IonQ to Acquire Oxford Ionics for $1.1 Billion

Paul, Weiss is advising IonQ, a leading commercial quantum computing and networking company, on its $1.075 billion acquisition of Oxford Ionics, a business that holds current world records for quantum operation accuracy. The deal consists of $1.065 billion in shares of IonQ common stock and about $10 million in cash. It is expected to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

The transaction will bring together IonQ’s quantum compute, application and networking stack with Oxford Ionics’ groundbreaking ion-trap technology manufactured on standard semiconductor chips. The combined technologies are expected to deliver innovative, reliable quantum computers that increase in power, scale and problem-solving capabilities. Both companies expect to benefit from the other’s complementary technologies, deep expertise and IonQ’s global resources and established customer base.

The Paul, Weiss team is led by corporate partners Chelsea Darnell, Robert Kindler and Dan Schuster-Woldan, and includes corporate partners Timothy Cruickshank, Benjamin Wilkinson, Patricia Vaz de Almeida and Carmen Lu, and counsel Lyudmila Bondarenko and Nathan Mitchell; antitrust partners Nicole Kar, Christopher Wilson, Scott Sher and Yuni Sobel, and counsel John Magruder and Alexandra Hackney; executive compensation partner Jean McLoughlin and counsel Meghan Fox; intellectual property partners Jonathan Ashtor and John Patten, and counsel Georgina Hoy and Matthew Rosenberg; tax partners Cian O’Connor, Brian Krause and Deeksha Rathi and counsel Adam Parry; litigation partner John Carlin and counsel Audrey Paquet; and real estate partner Peter Fisch.