Quantum news — July 23, 2026

The biggest corporate story of July 23 is IBM's agreement to acquire HRL Laboratories, the Malibu-based research institution jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors. The deal adds HRL's silicon-spin qubit programme to IBM's existing superconducting qubit roadmap, giving the company a two-track quantum hardware strategy. Both Boeing and GM are expected to retain collaborative relationships with HRL after the transaction closes [1]. Japan's RIKEN institute activated ROQUO, a new hybrid quantum-HPC supercomputer at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe. ROQUO connects directly to Quantinuum's trapped-ion Reimei system on campus, links to Japan's flagship Fugaku supercomputer, and incorporates an NVIDIA Blackwell cluster, making it one of the more tightly integrated quantum-classical research platforms to go live [2]. On the cryptography and Bitcoin security front, a notable new consortium formed on July 23: BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy joined forces to pledge $15 million toward preparing Bitcoin's cryptographic foundations against future quantum threats. The initiative, which operates separately from Galaxy Digital's $5 million Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative announced the previous day, focuses on quantum-resistant signatures and migration tooling for the open-source Bitcoin ecosystem [3]. Telefónica and Würth announced a joint project applying quantum computing to logistics packaging optimisation. The collaboration, based at Würth's Agoncillo facility in La Rioja, uses quantum algorithms to reduce transport volume and cardboard consumption, representing one of the more concrete industrial quantum deployments disclosed in Spain [4]. Keyfactor announced a broad expansion of its Global Partner Programme, redesigning it specifically to help systems integrators, managed service providers and hyperscaler partners guide enterprise clients through the post-quantum cryptography transition and machine identity management at scale [5]. Zero Point Cryogenics opened a new hub in Chicago to support quantum computing infrastructure in the region, adding cryogenic supply-chain capacity to the growing Illinois quantum cluster anchored by the Bloch Quantum Tech Hub [6]. Illinois separately announced it is offering $1.8 million in tax credits to attract quantum computing companies to the state [7]. EuroHPC JU launched a formal procurement process for a quantum computer to be hosted in Luxembourg, extending the European supercomputing body's quantum integration programme to a new member-state site [8]. The quantum error correction software provider Qedma integrated its error-mitigation platform with Quantinuum's hardware, giving users of the Quantinuum system a direct software path to reduced noise without hardware changes [9]. Separately, Quantum Elements launched its Orbit error suppression tool through IBM's Qiskit platform, adding another commercial error-mitigation option to the IBM ecosystem [10]. Honeywell disclosed a $6.6 billion accounting gain resulting from the deconsolidation of Quantinuum following that company's public listing, a financial milestone that reflects the scale of the value Honeywell had built up in its quantum subsidiary before the spin-off [11]. Innolume, a German photonics manufacturer, ordered a Veeco GEN2000 molecular beam epitaxy system to scale production of gallium arsenide quantum dot lasers, a manufacturing capacity expansion with relevance to both quantum photonics and classical optical communications [12]. MIT announced that several of its research projects have been selected for funding under the US Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, adding the institute to the growing list of universities receiving awards under the programme alongside Infleqtion, BlueQubit, Los Alamos, IBM, and Rice University reported the previous day [13]. On the research side, physicists demonstrated a way to reproduce black-hole quantum chaos dynamics using ultracold atoms trapped in light, a tabletop experimental realisation of a model previously studied only theoretically [14]. A separate study showed that quantum randomness can help neural networks recognise difficult handwritten digits more reliably, with quantum noise acting as a beneficial source of stochasticity rather than an obstacle [15]. Engineers also observed quantum heat waves, known as phonon focusing, at room temperature for the first time, a result that had previously been confined to cryogenic conditions and that could inform next-generation electronics thermal management [16]. Researchers at the University of Würzburg detected robust electrical transport in a topological insulator using a simple circuit design, a step toward practical metrological standards based on topological materials [17]. Rigetti Computing announced it will report its second-quarter 2026 financial results on August 6, scheduling a conference call for investors on the same date [18]. D-Wave separately confirmed it will also report Q2 2026 results on August 6 [19].