SILICON VALLEY — Intel has agreed to acquire Classiq Technologies, an Israeli quantum computing startup, in a move set to intensify the race with Google and IBM to commercialize quantum computing.
Intel said on the 26th that it had reached an agreement to buy Classiq and expects the transaction to close in the first half of next year. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Classiq develops quantum test code and verifies its usefulness, providing a software platform for the field. The company has raised more than $200 million to date and employs about 130 people.
Intel said the goal of the deal is to combine its own quantum software platform and silicon spin qubit technology with Classiq's automated quantum algorithm synthesis platform. The aim is to offer comprehensive quantum technology spanning hardware to software. Spin qubits are one of several approaches to building qubits, the basic units of information processing in a quantum computer.
Intel is developing quantum processing units, or QPUs, in-house, adding to its work on central processing units, graphics processing units and application-specific integrated circuits. Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement that working with Classiq would transform Intel's quantum computing group into a quantum computing business spanning hardware to software.
Intel, which once dominated the PC processor market before losing ground in the mobile era, is trying to recapture its past standing by developing a range of AI chips and expanding its foundry, or contract chipmaking, business. Developing quantum chips for quantum computers is part of that effort. The company has invested in quantum computing development since 2015. Tan is preparing for an era of quantum computing in which GPUs and CPUs support quantum chips.
Quantum computers maximize processing speed by handling calculations simultaneously on a massive scale rather than in sequence. That principle allows a quantum computer to solve in seconds complex calculations that would take a supercomputer hundreds of years. The technology is seen as a next-generation advance capable of tackling problems beyond the reach of current science, such as drug discovery and code-breaking.