Intel announced on October 26, 2026, that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Classiq, a Tel Aviv company whose software turns high-level descriptions of quantum algorithms into circuits for specific machines. Intel expects to close the deal in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Until then, the two companies will operate separately.
Intel did not disclose the price, but the Israeli business daily Calcalist reported $2.3 billion in cash and stock. Globes put the effective price at about $2.2 billion after deducting roughly $100 million of cash on Classiq’s balance sheet.
Intel is buying a software layer that already works with other companies’ quantum computers. The company does not yet sell a quantum computer of its own.
What Intel says it is building
Intel said it would combine Classiq’s synthesis platform with its silicon spin-qubit manufacturing and quantum software into a full-stack platform. The goal, the company said, is to add quantum processing units (QPUs) to its portfolio of CPUs, GPUs, and custom chips. Intel compared Classiq’s role with that of electronic design automation (EDA) software, the tools chip engineers use to design circuits without placing each transistor by hand.
“Joining forces with Classiq transforms Intel’s Quantum Computing Group into a full-stack quantum computing business,” Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said in the announcement. Intel said that after closing it intends to keep supporting Classiq’s integrations with other hardware makers and to keep the software independent of qubit type.
What Classiq makes
Nir Minerbi, Classiq’s chief executive, founded the company in 2020 with Yehuda Naveh and Amir Naveh. Developers describe what an algorithm should do in Qmod, Classiq’s modeling language. The company’s synthesis engine then generates an optimized gate-level circuit for the machine they choose.
When Classiq raised $110 million in a Series C round in May 2025, it named BMW, Citi, Deloitte, Rolls-Royce, Mizuho, and Toshiba as customers. It listed integrations with hardware from IBM, IonQ, QuEra, Quantinuum, Rigetti, and other makers. AMD Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and IonQ joined a strategic round in November 2025, after which Classiq had raised more than $200 million in total.
Calcalist reported that Classiq employs about 150 people and has annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars. Neither company has disclosed Classiq’s financial results.
Tan’s stake in Classiq
Tan has invested in Classiq personally. When Classiq announced its $33 million Series B in February 2022, it listed personal investments from Tan and from Harvey Jones, a former chief executive of Synopsys. Tan was then executive chairman of Cadence Design Systems and became Intel’s chief executive in March 2025.
SiliconANGLE reported that Tan also took part in Classiq’s 2025 Series C. Citing sources close to Classiq, Calcalist reported that Tan recused himself from discussions of the acquisition. Intel did not mention his holding in its announcement or describe how the transaction was reviewed.
Intel’s quantum hardware
Intel has worked on quantum computing since 2015 and builds silicon spin qubits, which store information in the spin of a single electron held in a transistor-like structure. In June 2023, Intel released its best-known research chip, the 12-qubit Tunnel Falls, to research laboratories.
In a 2024 Nature paper, Intel researchers reported that 96% of 232 devices tested on one 300-millimeter wafer had all components working. In a podcast interview that Calcalist reported in September 2026, Tan said about 70 people work on quantum computing at Intel.
A partner, Hitachi, has set the nearest dated hardware milestones. In July, Hitachi announced a project with Intel’s Japanese subsidiary and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to design qubit chips for Intel’s manufacturing processes.
Hitachi aims to open a cloud service for outside researchers in fiscal 2027. It also aims to build a 100-qubit prototype running error-correcting codes in fiscal 2028 and a 1,000-qubit prototype in fiscal 2030.
Update, October 30, 2026: In its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Intel said it will pay approximately $1.9 billion for Classiq, subject to customary purchase-price adjustments, plus up to $350 million in contingent consideration tied to performance milestones, payable in cash or shares.
