The Intel Classiq acquisition puts a price of about $2.2 billion on Israeli quantum software, after Intel agreed on October 26, 2026 to buy Tel Aviv-based Classiq Technologies. The chipmaker plans to pair Classiq’s hardware-agnostic programming platform with its silicon spin-qubit work and make the startup its global quantum development center. Subject to regulatory approvals, Intel expects to close in the first half of 2027, in a deal Globes called the biggest quantum computing acquisition so far.
Key Takeaways
- Intel agreed to buy Classiq for about $2.2 billion net of cash.
- Approvals still stand between signing and a first-half 2027 close.
- Classiq’s platform is set to keep supporting non-Intel quantum machines.
- The price tops IonQ’s Oxford Ionics buy and D-Wave’s Quantum Circuits deal.
What the Intel Classiq Acquisition Includes
Reported prices sit close together. SiliconANGLE’s report on the agreement put it at $2.2 billion. The Next Web said Intel disclosed no price and declined to comment on a Bloomberg estimate of about $2.3 billion. Globes’ price breakdown described a $2.3 billion announcement that nets to $2.2 billion after an estimated $100 million of cash still at Classiq.
The deal still needs regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Until then, Intel and Classiq continue as separate companies, Data Center Dynamics reported. The outlay is far smaller than the $15.3 billion Mobileye purchase in 2017, and it follows Intel’s August sale of $15 billion in stock to fund chip factories.
How Classiq’s Quantum Software Works
Founded in 2020 by chief executive Nir Minerbi, Amir Naveh, and Yehuda Naveh, Classiq has likened itself to the Microsoft of quantum computing. Globes identifies the Navehs as father and son, serving as chief technology officer and chief product officer. The platform turns high-level models into optimized circuits so teams can design, test, and run programs without building each circuit by hand.
That software is hardware-agnostic. Supported approaches include trapped ions, superconductors, photons, carbon nanotubes, topological networks, atoms, and Intel spin qubits. It runs on processors from Israeli firm Quantum Machines.
Reported customer work includes:
- BMW used the platform for aerodynamics simulation, SiliconANGLE reported, modeling cars when components use different materials so physical testing can be reduced. Globes separately described BMW vehicle-dynamics modeling with that same aim.
- HSBC developed a fraud-detection algorithm.
- Intesa Sanpaolo priced options over shorter timeframes to raise profit per transaction.
- Citibank, Deloitte, and Rolls Royce, plus more than 600 academic clients, including labs at MIT and UCL, according to Globes.
Intel compared the abstraction to electronic design automation. “Providing this high-level abstraction enables quantum computing to scale beyond custom hand-crafted circuits and applications to become a mainstream computing platform,” the company said, according to SiliconANGLE.
A Full-Stack Quantum Platform
Intel has worked on quantum computing since 2015, building qubits on silicon with the same equipment used for ordinary chips, The Next Web reported. The aim is a full-stack business that adds quantum processing units to the portfolio, while keeping Classiq’s software able to run on other vendors’ machines.
Joining forces with Classiq transforms Intel’s Quantum Computing Group into a full-stack quantum computing business.
Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s chief executive, said that in the company statement. Classiq’s Minerbi said the two companies can “help unlock the benefits of quantum computing and accelerate its adoption sooner.”
SiliconANGLE said Tan joined a $33 million Series B in February 2022 and invested again in a $110 million Series C in May 2025. Data Center Dynamics said that February 2022 round included HPE and Samsung, without tying Tan to either round. Classiq has raised just over $200 million. The Next Web, citing Calcalist, said he stayed out of the talks because of that stake, after joining the 2022 and 2025 rounds. It also said Calcalist, according to Ynet, put the 2025 valuation at about $600 million to $700 million.
How This Quantum Deal Compares
Globes called the purchase the largest quantum acquisition to date, Intel’s second-biggest buy in Israel after Mobileye, and the first such deal by a major US technology company. Of 17 quantum-related acquisitions since 2022, IonQ had done nine.
| Deal | Buyer | Reported value |
|---|---|---|
| Classiq | Intel | $2.2 billion net; about $2.3 billion before cash |
| Oxford Ionics | IonQ | About $1 billion |
| Quantum Circuits | D-Wave | $550 million |
| Mobileye (2017) | Intel | $15.3 billion |
Oxford Ionics sold to IonQ last year, and D-Wave bought Quantum Circuits earlier this year, Globes reported.
Rivals, Brands, and Past Israeli Buys
SiliconANGLE said Intel’s biggest rival now will likely be IBM, whose Qiskit platform is also hardware-agnostic. Globes said Qiskit competes for customers seeking a safe brand. Nvidia has opted not to develop its own quantum computer and instead markets CUDA Quantum as a bridge from its graphics processors to simulations or to other companies’ machines. Horizon Quantum Computing has raised $22 million.
Globes said Intel has acquired numerous Israeli companies, including Habana Labs for $2 billion and Granulate for $650 million, yet most of those acquisitions have failed, and that Granulate was shut down. The share price was up 140% since the start of 2026, with market value approaching $500 billion after a slight decline since June, Globes reported.
