What Happened?
On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, trapped ion quantum computing and networking company IonQ announced its financial results for the Q4 2024 quarter and 2024 fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. See its press release for the full details.
The Numbers
While quarterly income was up an impressive 91.8% from Q4 2023, it was down 5.8% from the previous quarter. Operating expenses shot up, and the Net Loss was nearly fivefold what it was in the quarter a year ago.
IonQ GAAP Quarterly Financial Results
| Q4 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q/Q | Q4 2023 | Y/Y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($M) | 11.710 | 12.400 | ↓ 5.6 % | 6.106 | ↑ 91.8 % |
| Operating Expenses ($M) | 89.213 | 65.535 | ↑ 36.1 % | 60.554 | ↑ 47.3 % |
| Net Income (Loss) ($M) | (201.998) | (52.496) | ↑ 284.8 % | (41.904) | ↑ 382.0 % |
| Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share ($) | (0.93) | (0.24) | ↑ 287.5 % | (0.20) | ↑ 365.0 % |
For the full year, revenue nearly doubled, but the Net Loss more than doubled. In total, the Net Loss for 2024 was $331.647 million. To understand this increase in Net Loss, see the discussion of change in fair value of warrant liabilities and its relationship to stock prices in “Sutor Group Earnings Brief: Rigetti Computing Announces Financial Results for Q4 2024 and FY 2024.”
IonQ GAAP Annual Financial Results
| FY 2024 | FY 2023 | Y/Y | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($M) | 43.073 | 22.042 | ↑ 95.4 % |
| Operating Expenses ($M) | 275.528 | 179.796 | ↑ 53.2 % |
| Net Income (Loss) ($M) | (331.647) | (157.771) | ↑ 110.2 % |
| Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share ($) | (1.56) | (0.78) | ↑ 100.0 % |
The Charts
The financial story for Q4 2024 is clear from the right-hand side of the historical charts.
The Quantum Angle
Respectfully, something had to change, and it did.
First, Peter Chapman yielded his CEO role to board member Niccolo de Masi, who also took over as President. De Masi brought IonQ public via a SPAC on October 1, 2021, and has a long history with the company and its finances. Chapman remains Executive Chair. The company announced no other changes to the executive leadership team. The switch to de Masi is a smart move to an experienced executive who can help IonQ move to larger and more consistent financial performance and the next level of global corporate product breadth.
Second, IonQ is extending its quantum portfolio again after acquiring Qubitekk in early January. The company announced plans to acquire a majority stake in quantum security company ID Quantique. ID Quantique is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and offers products in the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) areas. These areas have immediate commercial potential and may help bolster revenue while IonQ’s quantum computers scale up toward Practical Quantum Advantage. In the QRNG domain, IonQ will now further compete with the other large trapped ion quantum company, Quantinuum. In parallel to the move with ID Quantique, IonQ and South Korea’s SK Telecom entered into a strategic agreement. This is a good move since it provides an anchor client for the IQ Quantique and Qubitekk offerings. Presumably, IonQ will also engage with other telecoms.
QKD is gaining broad adoption globally but less so in the United States. In particular, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has long opposed its adoption, instead favoring the Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last August.
Finally, to fuel its growth and absorb its losses, IonQ has entered into an equity distribution agreement with Morgan Stanley, where it can sell up to $500 million worth of common stock. IonQ can do these “at-the-market” sales as needed, which gives it a financial nest egg and buffer.
Links to these and other announcements are at the bottom of the following company profile.
Company Profile
Company
IonQ (IONQ) (Crunchbase)
Contact Email: info@ionq.com
Contact Phone: +13012987997
Year Founded
2015
Date Went Public
October 1, 2021
Headquarters
4505 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Company Description
Generated by Perplexity on February 26, 2025
IonQ is a quantum computing hardware and software company developing general-purpose quantum computers. The company specializes in trapped ion quantum technology, utilizing ionized atoms as qubits for their quantum systems. IonQ’s quantum computers are designed to perform longer and more sophisticated calculations with fewer errors compared to other quantum computing approaches. The company has made its quantum computers accessible through major cloud platforms and offers quantum programming languages and software development kits. IonQ became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
Senior Leadership
- Niccolo De Masi, Chief Executive Officer
- Rima Alameddine, Chief Revenue Officer
- Thomas Kramer, Chief Financial Officer
- Margaret Arakawa, Chief Marketing Officer
- Tom Jones, Chief People Officer
- Stacey Giamalis, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
- Dean Kassmann, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Technology
- Dave Mehuys, Vice President, Production Engineering
- Ariel Braunstein, Senior Vice President, Product
- Jordan Shapiro, Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis
- Peter Chapman, Executive Chair
Selected Recent News and Announcements
- February 26, 2025 – IonQ Announces At-the-Market Equity Offering Program for up to $500 Million
- February 26, 2025 – IonQ to Acquire Geneva-Based ID Quantique, Enters Into Global Quantum Strategic Partnership with SK Telecom
- February 26, 2025 – IonQ Names Niccolo de Masi as President & Chief Executive Officer
- February 21, 2025 – IonQ Announces Innovations in Compact, Room-Temperature Quantum Computing through Novel Extreme High Vacuum (XHV) Technology
- February 10, 2025 – IonQ and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) Partner to Develop Quantum Solutions for Customers in the U.S.
Related Content and Analysis
- November 21, 2024 – The Futurum Group – Quantum in Context: D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti 3Q2024 Financial Results
- September 30, 2024 – The Futurum Group – Quantum in Context: IonQ Announces a Huge Deal with the US AFRL
- August 13, 2024 – The Futurum Group – IonQ Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results
- May 10, 2024 – The Futurum Group – Quantum in Context: IonQ Announces Q1 2024 EarningsL
Disclosures and Disclaimers
Bob Sutor is a former employee of IBM and Infleqtion and holds equity positions or stock options in each company. He is a Non-Executive Director for Nu Quantum and Advisor to the venture capital firm Forma Prime.
The information contained in newsletters or articles and the resources available on the Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory website is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, legal or financial advice. We are not attorneys, accountants, or financial advisors, nor are we holding ourselves out to be. The information is not a substitute for legal or financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.