College Park, Maryland-based quantum computing startup IonQ has announced its second partnership with Amazon, sending the company’s stock to a 52-week high.
IonQ’s Aria system is now available on Braket, the Amazon Web Services quantum computing service. IonQ’s predecessor to Aria, Harmony, had previously been made available to developers on Braket in 2020, and remains available alongside Aria.
IonQ said Aria is more than 65,000 times more powerful than Harmony. It allows users to better explore, design and run highly complex quantum algorithms.
“Amazon Braket has been instrumental in commercializing quantum, and we look forward to seeing what new approaches will come from the brightest, most curious, minds in the space,” said IonQ chief executive Peter Chapman.
IonQ stock (Nasdaq: IONQ) has risen more than 166% this year.
Earlier this year, IonQ announced plans to open the first dedicated quantum computing manufacturing facility in the U.S., near Seattle. The 65,000-square-foot facility will be in Bothell, Washington, home to several tech and Pharma companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Panasonic and Seagen.
The company has said it intends to invest $1 billion through expansion in the Pacific Northwest over the next 10 years.
Last year, IonQ and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced a public-private partnership that has resulted in a sustainable supply of barium qubits that are used to manufacture barium-based quantum computers.
IonQ has several large contracts, including those with Airbus, General Electric, Dow Chemistry, Hyundai Motors, the University of Maryland and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
