Intel has spent about a decade tinkering with quantum chips in the lab. Now the Intel Classiq acquisition is how it plans to finally sell something. The chipmaker says it will acquire Israeli quantum software company Classiq, a deal Bloomberg puts at about $2.3 billion. That price comes from people familiar with the matter, and Intel has not confirmed it.
Here’s my read: after a decade of lab work, Intel is finally trying to sell something.
What Intel says it’s buying in the Intel Classiq deal
Intel announced the definitive agreement on Oct. 26. The plan is to pair Classiq’s software with Intel’s own spin-qubit chips and manufacturing, with the goal of what Intel calls a “full-stack” quantum platform. Intel says the deal would also let it add quantum processing units, or QPUs, to a lineup that already includes CPUs, GPUs and ASICs.
Classiq’s software helps developers design quantum programs without hand-wiring every circuit. Reported customers include BMW, Rolls-Royce, HSBC and Citi, according to Ynetnews. The company was founded in 2020 and has about 150 employees.
The price tag is the headline
Intel did not disclose financial terms. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reports about $2.3 billion. Calcalist, which reported the number first, says the Intel quantum acquisition would be the most expensive in the field to date by a significant margin. Other Israeli outlets cite slightly different figures, so treat the number as reported, not official.
The same reporting says Classiq’s 2025 funding round valued it at roughly $600 million to $700 million. That would make the reported price more than three times its last valuation. Annual revenue, meanwhile, is reportedly below $100 million.
That is a lot of money for a company in a field that, by most accounts, is still looking for its first big commercial customers.
The Lip-Bu Tan footnote
Then there’s the detail nobody can skip. Calcalist, via Ynet, reports that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is a personal investor in Classiq, with a stake he acquired before becoming CEO. Intel has not commented on that in the material we reviewed, so the reporting remains unconfirmed by the company.
It doesn’t change the facts of the deal. Still, it is the kind of thing shareholders will want explained.
Big tech deals keep raising questions like this. For example, Anthropic’s IPO filing showed how much a single disclosure to regulators can reveal.
Why Intel buys Classiq, and why it matters beyond Intel
Here’s the thing: if you own Intel shares, this is a multibillion-dollar bet, reportedly involving a target in which the CEO holds a personal stake. That’s worth knowing before the next earnings call.
The strategy is a bet that American silicon manufacturing can be a quantum advantage. Intel says it has invested in quantum since 2015 and that it can make qubit chips and cryogenic control electronics at scale using conventional silicon equipment.
Intel CTO Pushkar Ranade told reporters the quantum group was “a purely purely a research and development project” for the last 10 years, according to The Quantum Insider. Translation: the science project is about to get a sales team.
Intel also says it will keep supporting Classiq’s integrations with competing quantum hardware. That matters, because customers are not locked into one machine yet.
The move also fits a wider pattern. Chipmakers are racing to own the software layer, much as Apple’s M6 MacBook Pro shows how tightly silicon and software now travel together.
What happens next after the Intel Classiq acquisition
Nothing changes right away. The deal still needs regulatory approvals, and Intel expects it to close in the first half of 2027. Until then, the two companies operate separately. Intel has given no timetable for profit or for commercially useful quantum systems at scale.
Bloomberg reports Intel announced the deal ahead of its third-quarter earnings report, due Thursday. So the first question on that call is easy to guess: is $2.3 billion a smart bet on the future, or a very expensive way to say “we’re in quantum too”?
