Intel Plans to Keep Classiq’s Quantum Software Hardware-Agnostic in a Reported $2.3 Billion Deal

Intel makes its own qubits, but the quantum software company it agreed Monday to buy was built to run on everybody’s machines. Intel says it intends to keep it that way.

The chipmaker signed a definitive agreement to acquire Classiq, a Tel Aviv startup whose platform combines AI agents, a high-level quantum modeling language and design automation to produce hardware-ready quantum software. Intel didn’t disclose a price. Calcalist’s Ctech reported the deal at $2.3 billion in cash and Intel stock, which it said would be the most expensive quantum acquisition yet, well ahead of IonQ’s $1 billion purchase of Oxford Ionics. SiliconANGLE put the figure at $2.2 billion.

Ctech called that a substantial multiple for a young company. Classiq has about 150 employees and annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars, the outlet reported, and its last funding round valued it at an estimated $600 million to $700 million. Ctech also said Intel set aside more than $100 million in retention grants for staff.

Intel compares Classiq to the electronic design automation tools that, more than 40 years ago, let engineers design chips without wrestling with the underlying hardware. Intel has invested in quantum computing since 2015 and wants to pair that layer with its silicon spin-qubit manufacturing, adding quantum processing units to a lineup that already spans CPUs, GPUs and ASICs. “Joining forces with Classiq transforms Intel’s Quantum Computing Group into a full-stack quantum computing business,” CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in the announcement. SiliconANGLE reported that Intel also said Classiq will become its global development center for quantum computing.

What Classiq’s current customers can expect

Classiq’s software is built to run across trapped-ion, superconducting, photonic and other kinds of systems, including machines from companies such as IBM, Google and IonQ, SiliconANGLE noted. Intel said that after closing it intends to keep supporting Classiq’s existing multi-platform integrations and keep the product modality- and hardware-agnostic.

Banks and carmakers are among Classiq’s users. BMW has used Classiq to simulate car aerodynamics, HSBC built a fraud-detection algorithm on it, and Intesa Sanpaolo used it for options pricing, according to SiliconANGLE. Ctech added Rolls-Royce, Deloitte, Toshiba and Citi to the customer list.

The CEO was an early backer

Tan put personal money into Classiq’s $33 million Series B in February 2022, years before he became Intel’s CEO, and Ctech reported he remained among its backers when it raised a $110 million Series C in May 2025. In a September podcast interview he described the startup as an attempt to build the “next Cadence” for quantum computing; Tan previously led Cadence, the chip-design software company. Sources close to Classiq told Ctech that he recused himself from discussions about the acquisition. Intel’s announcement doesn’t mention his stake.

The deal still needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first half of 2027, and until then the two companies operate independently. Ctech noted that quantum computers have yet to see widespread commercial use, with only 117 in the world. Separately, Tan said in September that Intel can supply only about half of its customers’ CPU demand.

Ctech named IBM as Classiq’s main competitor, and SiliconANGLE said IBM’s Qiskit platform also lets developers write quantum applications that aren’t tied to one hardware design.