140 billion, the largest IPO in quantum computing is coming

Quantum computing is rapidly heating up in the venture capital circle, and some companies have already presented their results in the capital market. Within a week, a quantum computing enterprise in each of China and the United States has respectively embarked on the journey to go public through an IPO.

In the United States, the quantum computing company Quantinuum has officially submitted an IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The market expects its valuation to exceed $20 billion (approximately 140 billion RMB). In China, on May 11th, the IPO application of Guoyi Quantum on the STAR Market was approved by the listing committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Notably, the two companies share certain similarities in their development paths. First of all, neither of them has achieved profitability yet. In fiscal year 2025, Quantinuum had revenues of $30.9 million, but still suffered a net loss of as high as $192.6 million. Guoyi Quantum, on the other hand, had revenues of 666 million RMB in 2025 and a net loss of 5.85 million RMB.

Secondly, both companies have, to a certain extent, gained the trust and endorsement of their respective domestic capital markets. In the past few years, the public listing path for quantum computing enterprises has been almost dominated by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). However, Quantinuum has chosen the more rigorous traditional IPO path, with top investment banks such as J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley serving as underwriters. In China, Guoyi Quantum's IPO application on the STAR Market was accepted on December 10th, 2025, and passed the review on May 11th, 2026, taking only 153 days in total. The speed of the review process has also attracted market attention.

Obviously, from the laboratory to the capital market, quantum technology is gradually becoming a core area in the next round of global technological competition. Some institutions have pointed out that currently, quantum technology is undergoing a crucial transformation from basic theoretical research to large - scale engineering applications and is entering its first commercialization cycle. In terms of the industry's development stage, it has roughly gone through four stages: theoretical foundation - laying, technological breakthroughs, engineering challenges, and large - scale promotion. Currently, it is at an important juncture of moving from engineering verification to industrial expansion.

Industrial Giants Boost the Largest IPO in Quantum Computing History

Quantinuum was born from the quantum solutions department of the century - old American industrial giant Honeywell and was formed through a merger with the UK's Cambridge Quantum Computing in 2021. It is a company with the aura of a "star quantum computing company".

The company's first CEO was Ilyas Khan, the founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing. He is an entrepreneur with a rich experience. He received investment banking training in his early years and started his career at the long - established British commercial bank Merchant Bank. Surprisingly, he has also been the owner of his hometown football club and founded a literary magazine.

In 2014, when quantum computing was still in its very early stage, Khan founded Cambridge Quantum Computing in Cambridge. After that, he served as a senior researcher at both St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, and Judge Business School for over a decade until he stepped down in August 2025.

In 2023, Khan transferred to the position of vice - chairman of the board and chief product officer, focusing on the overall strategy of technology and products. He still holds approximately 20% of Quantinuum's shares, making him the second - largest shareholder after Honeywell, and has never sold any shares since the company's establishment.

After that, Rajeeb Hazra became the company's CEO. He has more than thirty years of leadership experience in supercomputing and quantum technology at Intel, Micron, and Lockheed Martin.

Since its establishment, Quantinuum has gone through multiple rounds of key financing, and its valuation has increased several times in the past two years. In January 2024, led by J.P. Morgan and followed by Honeywell, Mitsui & Co., and Amgen, Quantinuum completed a $300 million financing round, with a pre - investment valuation of $5 billion. Only about 18 months later, in September 2025, Quantinuum completed another $600 million financing round, and its pre - investment valuation quickly rose to $10 billion, doubling compared to the previous round. In addition to old shareholders such as J.P. Morgan, Mitsui & Co., and Amgen increasing their investments, new investors such as NVentures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA, Quanta Computer, and QED Investors also joined in.

Although the capital lineup is impressive, Quantinuum's current financial performance is not very outstanding. In fiscal year 2025, the company had revenues of $30.9 million, but a net loss of as high as $192.6 million. The highly anticipated general - purpose fault - tolerant quantum computer Apollo is not expected to be officially launched until 2029 at the earliest.

Calculated based on the target valuation of approximately $20 billion given by market analysts, it means that the capital market is being asked to pay in advance at a price with a price - to - sales ratio of over 600 times for a quantum computer that has not yet been truly realized.

Even so, the company still shows strong confidence in its own prospects. Different from most quantum technology companies that have entered the capital market through SPACs in the past, Quantinuum has chosen the more demanding and strictly - reviewed traditional IPO path and has become one of the few representative companies in the quantum computing field that actively pursue a traditional IPO.

The A - share Market Welcomes the "First Stock in Quantum Precision Measurement"

As Ilyas Khan said, quantum computing is on the verge of becoming a daily topic related to government policies, financial markets, and even everyone's daily life.

This trend is simultaneously emerging in the capital markets of both China and the United States.

Almost at the same time as Quantinuum's pursuit of an IPO, the initial public offering application of Guoyi Quantum from Hefei, China, on the STAR Market has also been officially approved by the listing committee, and it is expected to become the "first stock in quantum precision measurement" in the A - share market. According to the prospectus, Guoyi Quantum plans to raise approximately 1.169 billion RMB this time, and the funds will be mainly invested in projects such as the industrialization of high - end scientific instruments, the construction of a quantum technology development research institute, and the construction of an application center network.

Founded in 2016, Guoyi Quantum originated from the transformation of scientific research achievements of the Key Laboratory of Micro - magnetic Resonance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the University of Science and Technology of China. It is led by He Yu, a "post - 90s" entrepreneur from the Juvenile Class of the University of Science and Technology of China. Since its establishment, the company has continuously focused on the R & D of high - end scientific instruments, with applications covering multiple fields such as quantum technology, materials science, chemistry and chemical engineering, biomedicine, and advanced manufacturing. Its products have been delivered to more than 80 "985/211" universities and more than 150 scientific research institutions, and its corporate customers include leading enterprises in the materials, semiconductor, and new energy industries such as BOE, BYD, and CATL.

Looking back at its growth path, Guoyi Quantum has benefited from the combined effects of policy promotion, technological accumulation, and capital support.

In August 2016, the "13th Five - Year Plan for National Scientific and Technological Innovation" clearly listed quantum communication and quantum computing as key breakthrough directions. Four months later, Shuhua Technology, in which relevant capital from the Reader Media system participated, promoted the establishment of Guoyi Quantum. After the launch of the first domestic commercial X - band electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer, iFlytek, USTC i-Create, and Kexun Venture Capital invested in the company in December of the same year. Subsequently, institutions such as Xuancheng Huohua Venture Capital were also introduced.

In 2019, the "Outline of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integrated Development Plan" clearly proposed to layout future industries such as quantum information. Subsequently, Hillhouse Capital became one of the important investors in Guoyi Quantum in the quantum technology track. In addition, institutions such as Tongchuang Weiye, Cornerstone Capital, and China Merchants Securities also entered one after another. In the same year, "quantum information" was written into the "14th Five - Year Plan" and the government work report for the first time. The Ministry of Education also began to incorporate quantum information into the undergraduate education system to accelerate talent cultivation. In December of the same year, Guoyi Quantum completed a Series C financing of hundreds of millions of RMB.

Before and after this IPO, the company's shareholder structure has become more diversified. In addition to institutions such as the National Venture Capital Investment Fund, CAS Capital, IDG Capital, Hefei Industrial Investment, Songhe Capital, and Qianhai Mother Fund, old shareholders such as the iFlytek system, Hillhouse Capital, Tongchuang Weiye, Boshi Innovation, and Xuancheng Huohua Venture Capital have continued to increase their support.

The Trillion - dollar Market is on the Verge of Explosion

According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 countries and regions around the world have introduced quantum strategies. The exponential expansion of the market scale confirms the popularity of this track.

In February this year, Infleqtion became the first publicly traded neutral - atom quantum technology company by going public on the New York Stock Exchange through a SPAC. Just one month later, Xanadu was listed on the NASDAQ through a SPAC, becoming the world's first publicly listed pure - light quantum computing company. In the same month, Horizon Quantum, a Singaporean quantum software infrastructure company, also completed a transaction on the NASDAQ, and Tencent and Sequoia Capital India can be seen in its shareholder structure.

According to statistics from third - party institutions, the global quantum computing industry scale reached $6.61 billion in 2025 and is expected to soar to $179.52 billion by 2030, with an average annual compound growth rate of as high as 81.39% from 2024 to 2030. Among them, quantum communication and quantum precision measurement are growing simultaneously. The global market scales in 2025 were $2.703 billion and $1.88 billion respectively, and are expected to reach the level of tens of billions of dollars by 2035.

Among them, China is becoming a key variable in the global quantum industry landscape. According to forecasts, by 2035, China's share in the global quantum computing market is expected to increase to 30.61%, and the global quantum industry may gradually form a pattern of parallel competition between China and the United States.

On May 9th, 2026, China's fourth - generation self - developed superconducting quantum computer, "Benyuan Wukong - 180", was officially launched and began to accept global quantum computing tasks. This system is equipped with a 180 - qubit superconducting quantum chip, achieving a hundred - qubit - level quantum computing ability on a single - chip architecture, which is regarded as an important milestone in the engineering promotion of China's quantum computing power.

The enthusiasm for financing is also continuously rising. In March this year, Bose Quantum completed a financing of 1 billion RMB, jointly led by Beijing Financial Holdings, ICBC Capital, Chaoyang Shunxi, CMBC International, Shenzhen Investment Holdings, and Yida Capital, with institutions such as Turing Asset Management, Dingxing Quantum, Bofu Fund, Yueke Investment, and Guangzhou Financial Holdings following the investment, and many old shareholders also increasing their investments simultaneously.

During the same period, Logic Bit Technology also completed two rounds of financing, Pre - A+ and Pre - A++, and the cumulative financing scale within the year has exceeded 300 million RMB. The company originated from the superconducting quantum computing team of Zhejiang University, and its core member, Professor Wang Haohua, studied under John Martinis, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2025 for his contributions in the field of superconducting quantum circuits.

The 2026 government work report pointed out that China is at the forefront of the world in the R & D and application of quantum technology and other fields, and it is required to cultivate and develop future industries such as quantum technology. With the support of top - level policies, long - term capital, and industrial scenarios, this race around quantum technology is gradually becoming the core battlefield for major - power technological competition and the layout of new - quality productive forces.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Dongshisi Tiao Capital" (ID: DsstCapital), written by Wei Xianghui and republished by 36Kr with authorization.