The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved IonQ's proposed $1.8bn acquisition of semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology, clearing the final regulatory hurdle for the transaction.
The approval follows several months of antitrust scrutiny after the FTC issued a second request for information in April to assess whether the deal could affect competition in the emerging quantum computing market.
The agency ultimately cleared the acquisition without requiring any remedies, despite reported internal debate among commissioners over the competitive implications.
The acquisition, announced in January, will give IonQ direct ownership of SkyWater's US semiconductor manufacturing operations, enabling the company to bring quantum chip design, fabrication, packaging and testing together within a single organisation.
SkyWater operates semiconductor fabrication facilities in Minnesota, Florida and Texas and is the largest US-owned pure-play semiconductor foundry.
The company manufactures devices for commercial, aerospace, defence and industrial customers and will continue to operate under the SkyWater name as a wholly owned subsidiary following completion of the transaction.
IonQ said the acquisition will shorten quantum chip development cycles by allowing engineering teams to iterate wafer designs more rapidly and manufacture prototype devices in-house, while maintaining SkyWater's merchant foundry business for existing customers.
The company also said the combined business will create what it describes as the industry's first vertically integrated, full-stack quantum computing platform, bringing together quantum hardware, software and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.
The company has plans to begin testing a 200,000-qubit processor in 2028.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
