IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire HRL Laboratories, LLC (HRL), a premier research and development institution jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors. The strategic acquisition expands IBM’s quantum computing vision by integrating HRL’s specialized capabilities in silicon-spin qubit engineering, quantum sensing, and advanced material science alongside IBM’s market-leading superconducting qubit program.
Following the closing of the transaction, both Boeing and General Motors will maintain collaborative partnerships with IBM to advance quantum applications and high-performance industrial workloads. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“The HRL team will help IBM push even farther forward toward the frontiers of quantum innovation,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM’s Director of Research and IBM Fellow. “This talented group of researchers brings a broad portfolio of technologies that will strengthen IBM’s long-term plans to deliver useful quantum computing to the world, bringing together advances across quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum networking to enable the applications of the future.”
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Unifying Superconducting and Silicon-Spin Qubit Architecture
The transaction establishes a dual-track hardware approach for IBM as the industry shifts toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. While IBM’s core architectures rely on superconducting circuits, silicon-spin qubits provide a complementary modality built upon standard semiconductor fabrication infrastructure. The shared manufacturing foundation allows both paradigms to accelerate research iterations across packaging, control electronics, and cryogenics.
The addition of HRL’s technical capabilities reinforces IBM’s public roadmap toward executing utility-scale quantum workloads. This includes the planned deployment of IBM Quantum Starling by 2029 a system engineered to run 100 million quantum operations—and subsequent fault-tolerant architectures planned for the mid-2030s.
“Joining IBM is the natural next chapter for what we have built at HRL, where our team has dedicated years to exploring paths to how future quantum computers could be built at scales that today seem impossible,” said Rob Vasquez, President and Chief Executive Officer at HRL. “We now look forward to leveraging IBM’s capabilities to accelerate our work and turn long-term scientific possibilities into commercial realities.”
Expanding Industrial Horizons: Quantum Sensing and Semiconductor Ecosystems
On top of quantum hardware speedup, HRL offers plenty of experience gained over many years in fields of high-power communications, cutting-edge microelectronics, data center cooling technologies, and defense-class sensor development.
By incorporating HRL into IBM‘s core platform, the company will bring out of experimental stage applications that could revolutionize several industry verticals,
Quantum Sensing: Making affordable and accurate high precision sensors that are able to detect and measure subtle physical things such as gravitational waves, magnetic fluctuations, atomic resonances and so on.
For this application, quantum sensors could be employed in life sciences defense GPS-denied navigation and material research.
Wafer Foundry Synergy: HRL’s expertise in growing silicon on spin together with IBM’s wafer foundry Anderon, launched as a standalone quantum wafer foundry by IBM in May 2026, for domestic scale-up of quantum chip fabrication,
Advanced Materials: Rapid and efficient identification of customized materials that suit well various quantum operations will save not only resources of semiconductors but also improve efficiency of the devices at work.
It anticipates to have the transaction completed by the end of the third quarter 2026 as long as customary closing conditions are met and regulatory approvals are obtained.