IQM books €42.2M as Pasqal posts no QPU hardware sales

By Rebecca Stone

IQM booked €42.2 million of orders in Q3 2026 and lifted revenue 51% from €5.9 million to €8.9 million, while Pasqal’s revenue fell from €5.7 million to €3.3 million—a 42% decrease based on reported figures—after it recorded no quantum processing unit sales.

IQM is the Finnish maker of superconducting systems; Pasqal is the French neutral-atom company. Their order metrics are not directly comparable: IQM reports customer backlog, while Pasqal’s €69.8 million “booked and awarded business” includes grants, tax credits and multi-year contracts.

Pasqal’s CEO Wasiq Bokhari framed the gap differently: “Although the order book and revenue do not show it yet, we have made important progress in our technology roadmap.”

What drove IQM’s record order intake?

IQM’s largest third-quarter order, LUMI-IQ, came from CSC: a €33 million IQM Halocene system for Finland’s LUMI AI Factory. It is the first order for IQM’s error-correction platform, and the company says the system remains on track to become Europe’s first superconducting quantum computer with logical qubits.

The system will be delivered in three stages between 2027 and 2029.

Other third-quarter sales went to:

• Eldorado Research Institute in Campinas, IQM’s first customer in South America.
• The Community of Madrid.
• Japan’s TOYO Corporation, which acquired a second IQM machine.

Across all sales, IQM says it has sold 31 quantum computers to date and delivered 17.

Can IQM turn backlog into 2026 revenue?

IQM’s customer backlog reached €102.5 million at Sept. 30, up 52% from €67.3 million at the start of the year and €69.1 million at June 30. The company expects to recognize €59.5 million of that backlog as revenue within 12 months.

Nine-month revenue reached €17.7 million, up 49%. CFO Jan Kürschner said every euro came from commercial contracts, with no public funding or grants, while gross margin edged to 47% from 46% in the second quarter.

IQM reiterated 2026 guidance for €42–47 million in revenue and €65–75 million in order intake. With €17.7 million booked through September, the revenue target implies about €24–29 million in the fourth quarter, nearly three times the third-quarter result.

IQM recognizes standardized-system revenue only after customer acceptance, so a delay of just weeks can shift revenue across a quarter-end.

The first two 150-qubit customer systems have left the factory, with final delivery scheduled by year-end.

IQM also reported a €171.2 million operating loss, including a one-time non-cash listing expense of €127.1 million and €13.5 million of transaction costs tied to its July 1 merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp.

The merger and a $10-per-share PIPE generated gross proceeds of €208.5 million. Cash ended September at €260.4 million, down from €309.4 million just after listing, which IQM says provides a runway into Q2 2028.

Why did Pasqal’s hardware sales disappear?

Pasqal’s entire year-on-year decline came from hardware: the year-ago quarter included €3.2 million in QPU sales, but this quarter included none.

QPU-related services, including consulting, remote access, upgrades and maintenance, rose 53% to €3.1 million. Government grant income, including tax credits, was €1.0 million versus €0.7 million a year earlier.

At Sept. 30, Pasqal reported €69.8 million of “booked and awarded business.” The measure includes grants, tax credits and multi-year customer contracts, so it is not comparable with IQM’s customer-order backlog.

Pasqal did not disclose a net loss and ended September with €312.8 million in cash.

Commercial activity during the quarter consisted mainly of agreements rather than orders:

• A three-year memorandum of understanding with LG CNS.
• A planned joint venture in Saudi Arabia with Eleven Ventures.
• A research agreement with KACST.

Co-founded in 2019 by Nobel laureate Alain Aspect, the French company listed through a merger with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II.

How large are these vendors next to U.S. peers?

Both companies reached Nasdaq this year through mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies. IQM filed its results in a 6-K on Nov. 5, while Pasqal furnished its 6-K on Nov. 6; each attached the report to prospectus supplements covering resale registrations.

The scale gap with U.S. peers remains wide. D-Wave reported Q3 revenue of $4.5 million and remaining performance obligations of $38.3 million; IonQ posted $173.8 million, about half from the SkyWater foundry business it acquired.

According to the supplements, IQM’s ADSs last traded at $7.51 on Nov. 5, while Pasqal shares last traded at $4.35 on Nov. 6.

The next test arrives before year-end: IQM must complete delivery of its first two 150-qubit customer systems and recognize roughly €24–29 million in fourth-quarter revenue, while Pasqal must turn its technology roadmap, grants and new agreements into hardware orders if it is to reverse the quarter’s 42% revenue decline.