IonQ has launched a division to bring its quantum computing and networking technologies to government customers.

IonQ Federal will target the U.S. government “and its allies," with former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency director Robert Cardillo leading the unit as executive chair.

Cardillo has been on IonQ’s Board since 2024 and also serves as chair of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Geospatial-Intelligence Foundation and Planet Federal.

“The creation of IonQ Federal will empower us to bring essential quantum advantage to government agencies, increase our engagement with key federal programs, and help solve some of the most complex problem sets for our nation,” Cardillo said.

IonQ is already familiar to several U.S. federal and defense agencies, having secured more than $100 million in contracts with the United States Air Force Research Lab. It’s also one of 15 firms chosen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) working on developing a fault-tolerant quantum computer within the next decade.

Niccolo de Masi, IonQ’s chair and CEO, said the formation of IonQ Federal will provide government customers with “additional dedicated resources committed to the further application of quantum computing and quantum networking solutions across their programs.”

The launch of IonQ Federal comes after the firm raised $1 billion via an equity offering from Heights Capital Management. The investment firm purchased shares from J.P. Morgan in July, with the cash set to support its growing quantum computing and networking efforts.

Beyond quantum computers, IonQ is also working on quantum network technologies, with its EPB offering already commercially available and powering secure workloads for public and private sector researchers.

To support its networking efforts, it acquired the quantum networking company Qubitekk at the turn of the year, before taking a controlling stake in quantum-safe networking and sensing firm ID Quantique (IDQ) back in May.