Intel's $2.3 Billion Classiq Deal Targets Quantum Scale

By Tom Whitfield

Intel will acquire six-year-old Israeli quantum software company Classiq for $2.3 billion, starting the commercial phase of a quantum program Intel has kept in research for roughly a decade. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of next year.

The purchase price exceeds last year's $400 million to $600 million Classiq valuation estimates. The company raised about $200 million over several rounds in six years, has roughly 130 employees and more than 48 enterprise customers, but disclosed no annual revenue figure. CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly invested in Classiq four years ago.

Why is Intel making the bet now?

Intel lost $11 billion in its fiscal 2026 second quarter and is due to report its next quarterly numbers on October 29. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan is cutting costs and scaling back earlier expansion plans as he attempts a turnaround.

AMD has cut into Intel's server-chip share, Nvidia's GPUs have benefited from the AI wave, and Intel's foundry has sustained billions in operating losses. Intel says the shift from training to inference helps because inference is more CPU-intensive and could narrow the CPU-GPU gap in the fast-growing AI market.

Intel must finance a new growth field while repairing its core businesses. The inference shift may partly offset those pressures.

What does Classiq add to the quantum stack?

Classiq's platform helps developers build quantum algorithms and applications faster and at scale through AI natural-language models and a Python-like language. It addresses software, algorithms, architectures, digital twins and networking as the field moves beyond hardware and qubits.

Classiq co-founder and chief executive Nir Minerbi described the gap the company targets: “There were quite a few players, several modalities, amazing progress, but there was not much of a software stack. No OS, no compiler, no development environment.” He compared gate-level programming with designing a chip at the transistor level while hardware and error-correction work advanced.

Classiq aims to build the operating system for quantum, letting non-specialists develop software rather than gate-level programs alone. Its hardware-agnostic platform applies methods that scaled classical computing, including electronic design automation, modeling, synthesis and compilation.

Minerbi argues earlier computing revolutions succeeded when capable hardware met software that unlocked its value. Intel expects Classiq plus its own hardware to form a full-stack business capable of competing with IBM and Google.

A cited market forecast puts the quantum computing market at up to $20 billion within the next few years. No forecaster or methodology accompanied it, so this represents ambition rather than confirmed revenue. Classiq gives Intel software that can sit above several kinds of quantum hardware.

What has Intel built over the past decade?

Intel's portfolio includes the Tunnel Falls QPU, a 12-qubit silicon chip using the spin-qubit approach, the Quantum SDK and Horse Ridge control chips developed in 2019. The company can also manufacture its quantum chips through the same 18A-based process technology used for its mainline CPUs.

Classiq would place software above those hardware assets, extending Intel from processors, control electronics and foundry services into end-user development tools. Intel chief technology officer Pushkar Ranade said the QPU, control electronics, simulation stack, Quantum SDK and manufacturing services give the combined company a broad base.

Intel expects to serve enterprises, governments and universities while connecting them with quantum clouds, high-performance computers, datacenters and other hardware providers. Ranade said marketplace traction and technical developments had made the timing right for commercialization.

Ranade said: “Up until now, our quantum computing group for the last 10 years was purely a research-and-development project.” The acquisition moves that group from research to an actual quantum computing business. Intel already has the silicon; Classiq supplies the route to customers.

Who will use the combined platform?

Classiq's more than 48 enterprise customers span several large organizations. Intel will inherit those relationships if the acquisition closes:

• Communications: Comcast and AT&T.
• Automotive: BMW and Rolls-Royce.
• Research and IT: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, NTT Data and Mphasis.
• Other named customers: Lufthansa and Wells Fargo.

After the deal closes, those customers will also become Intel customers. Ranade admitted that Intel had done little customer engagement or commercial work with its quantum technology, which gives Classiq's established relationships unusual weight.

Minerbi claimed Classiq generated very healthy revenue this year and expects a very healthy compound annual growth rate, but gave no amount. Intel disclosed no revenue, customer-spending figure or margin target. The customer list offers immediate reach, but the financial value remains unproven.

Can Intel support competing quantum hardware?

Intel has centered its own hardware on spin qubits, which encode information in the magnetic properties of particles such as electrons. Those spins act like magnets and can represent 0 or 1 or exist in superposition, while microwave pulses, magnetic fields or electrical tuning control and entangle them.

Minerbi called Intel's silicon-based route the most promising modality, although no leader has emerged. Classiq's defining feature is support for any modality, which prevents a platform tied to one architecture from excluding customers using another.

Minerbi said large users such as Lufthansa and Wells Fargo may work with quantum hardware other than Intel's spin qubits, and Classiq would give them assurance across modalities. A hardware-neutral platform protects Intel if another qubit approach wins.

What will Intel manufacture?

Intel builds its QPUs and control electronics on 18A logic technology at its Oregon fab. It has process variants designated 18A-Q for the quantum chip and 18A-C for the control chip, alongside its mainline use of 18A for CPUs.

Ranade said Intel chose spin qubits because the approach lends itself to manufacturing with conventional semiconductor equipment. Intel will pitch its foundry services aggressively for selected quantum components, while pursuing customers for complete systems.

Intel has built several complete quantum systems, but Ranade aspires to supply whole computers, not only discrete parts. He expects Classiq and Intel hardware to create synergies and attract customers, while cautioning that quantum will not be high-margin on day one.

The acquisition adds a long-duration business to Intel's mainstream CPU and foundry work rather than replacing either. Intel's next commercial test is whether Classiq's enterprise reach and hardware-neutral tools can produce sustained deployments against IBM and Google while Intel repairs its broader financial position.