IQM

Overview

IQM Quantum Computers, based in Espoo near Helsinki, builds complete superconducting quantum computers, including the chip, the control electronics, and the software. Unlike companies that mainly sell cloud access, IQM focuses on selling machines that universities, supercomputing centers, and companies install in their own facilities, where they can be integrated with existing high-performance computers.

The company reports about 15 systems deployed, more than any other European hardware builder. Its customers include research centers in Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States, and it listed on Nasdaq on July 2, 2026 under the ticker IQMX, with a second listing in Helsinki.

History and background

IQM was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Jan Goetz, a physicist who earned his doctorate on superconducting circuits at the Walther-Meissner-Institute in Munich, co-founded the company and became its sole chief executive in January 2026. Over its first years IQM raised more than 600 million dollars, which made it one of the best-funded quantum hardware startups in Europe.

In February 2026 the company announced a merger with the special purpose acquisition company Real Asset Acquisition Corp, valuing it at 1.8 billion dollars before the deal. The transaction closed on July 2, 2026, with a pro forma cash position of about 337 million euros, and trading began in New York on that day and in Helsinki the next. The company has since reported revenue for the first half of 2026 of about 8.9 million euros and guided to 42 to 47 million euros for the year.

How the technology works

IQM's qubits are superconducting circuits cooled below 20 millikelvin. The company has two main chip families. Crystal uses a two-dimensional square lattice in which each qubit couples to its neighbors, a layout that works well with surface-code error correction. Star places a central coupling element at the middle of a group of qubits so that any qubit can interact with the others through it, which reduces the number of operations needed for some algorithms.

IQM sells three main product lines. Spark is a compact 5-qubit system for education and training. Radiance is a larger system, offered in sizes such as 54 and 150 qubits, designed to be installed in data centers next to supercomputers. Resonance is IQM's cloud service. A newer line, Halocene, targets customers who want to study quantum error correction, beginning with a 150-qubit system and extending in the company's plans to 1,000 qubits.

IQM publishes a roadmap toward fault-tolerant machines by 2030. A Halocene H4 with 150 physical qubits and early error-correcting codes is expected around 2027, and an H5 with a handful of logical qubits around 2029. In 2026 the first Halocene installation was reported to have moved from late 2026 into 2027, which illustrates how hardware schedules can slip.

Products and platforms

Processors in our Hardware Database

• IQM Garnet — 20 qubits, released 2023 to 2024 (benchmarks February 2024; cloud access from May 2024)

Key milestones

Strengths and challenges

Strengths

• One of the largest installed bases among independent quantum hardware companies.
• A business model built around on-premises systems that integrate with supercomputers.
• A clear technical roadmap with named product lines and customers for upcoming systems.
• Public-market capital and broad public-sector support in Europe.

Challenges and open questions

• Revenue is small relative to the valuation, and sales are concentrated in a few large public-sector customers.
• Hardware schedules can slip, as the delay of the first Halocene installation shows.
• Superconducting hardware competes with IBM, Google, and Rigetti, which have deeper resources.
• Fault-tolerant machines by 2030 require large improvements in qubit quality and scale.

Why it matters

IQM represents Europe's most direct answer to the American superconducting companies. Its listing and its government customers show that quantum computers are increasingly viewed as strategic infrastructure, and that countries want machines they own and operate rather than only renting cloud time.

Its on-premises model is also a good illustration of how quantum computers will most likely be used for now: as accelerators attached to supercomputers. The machine in a research center in Bologna or Oak Ridge sits next to a classical system, and the interesting work is in how the two are combined.

Latest news

• IQM reports first-half 2026 revenue of about 8.9 million euros and guides to 42 to 47 million euros for the year — 2026
• IQM begins trading on Nasdaq as IQMX and on Nasdaq Helsinki — July 2026
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory takes delivery of an IQM Radiance system — June 2026
• IQM sells a 20-qubit Radiance system to Japan's Toyo Corporation — April 2026

Frequently asked questions

This profile is written for educational purposes and summarizes public announcements, company filings, and published research. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. It is not investment advice. Check the company's official channels for the latest figures and claims.

← Back to all quantum companies