IonQ (IONQ 5.33%) stock was crushing it on Friday, shares soaring 17.6% at 10:33 a.m. ET. The big gain came after the company announced that the U.K. Investment Security Unit had cleared the way for the acquisition of Oxford Ionics.
All conditions needed for IonQ's acquisition of Oxford Ionics to be finalized have now been met. The quantum computing pioneer said that it "looks forward to closing the deal in the near term."
Why the Oxford Ionics acquisition matters so much
Mergers and acquisitions don't always move the needle very much for the initiating company. Why does the Oxford Ionics acquisition matter so much for IonQ? The deal is critical for IonQ to fulfill its ambitious product roadmap.
IonQ hopes to have a quantum computer that supports 2 million qubits (a unit of information in quantum computing) and 80,000 logical qubits by 2030. The company needs Oxford Ionics' technology to squeeze more qubits onto standard silicon chips without sacrificing performance.
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Is IonQ stock a buy?
Risk-averse investors will probably want to stay on the sidelines of most quantum computing stocks, including IonQ. The company isn't profitable yet. It faces multiple rivals, some with deep pockets. There's no guarantee that IonQ's technology will ultimately come out on top.
However, I think aggressive investors who aren't afraid to take on considerable risk should find IonQ an attractive option. Quantum computing is still in its early innings. The current leaders (and IonQ is in that group) could be huge winners over the next decade.
