Intel Eyes Record $2.3 Billion Quantum Exit With Classiq Acquisition

At $2.3 billion, the cash-and-stock transaction would more than double the industry’s previous record.

By Shula Rosen

Intel is preparing a $2.3 billion purchase of Israeli startup Classiq, a deal that would give the technology giant a company developing operating systems for quantum computers and could mark the quantum computing industry’s biggest exit.

At $2.3 billion, the cash-and-stock transaction would more than double the industry’s previous record.

IonQ paid $1 billion for Oxford Ionics last year.

For Classiq’s founders and employees, the proposed sale would produce substantial returns. Nir Minerbi, Amir Naveh and his father, Prof. Yehuda Naveh, founded the company, and each is expected to receive between $80 million and $100 million.

Classiq employs 150 people, who together own 10% of the startup.

At the reported sale price, those holdings would be valued at $230 million, with the amount received varying by employee. Intel has separately allocated more than $100 million in retention grants to encourage staff to remain with the company.

The Israeli startup’s workforce includes numerous graduates of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Talpiot program, among them Minerbi and Amir Naveh. Yehuda Naveh previously held a senior role at IBM’s Israeli development center.

A Classiq purchase would follow other Intel acquisitions in Israel. The company bought Israeli mobility company Moovit for approximately $1 billion six years ago and acquired Granulate in 2022 for $650,000.

Quantum computing has yet to enter widespread practical commercial use. Just 117 quantum computers currently exist worldwide, and access remains limited in part because the machines are extremely expensive.

Efforts to make the technology more practical have nevertheless produced advances in several areas.

Work by researchers at Google, RIKEN, Stanford, Peking University, Microsoft and other organizations has included reducing computing errors, increasing the number of qubits that can be controlled simultaneously and developing devices capable of operating without extreme cooling.

Such developments could enable quantum computers to become larger, more dependable and easier to operate.

Israel, meanwhile, is considered one of the five leading countries worldwide in quantum computing based on both private investment and the number of companies working in the field.