NEWS
OQC has secured £ 260 million
( US $ 350 million) in an oversubscribed Series C round, marking the largest private funding round ever completed by a European quantum computing company. The investment strengthens the UK-headquartered firm’ s position as one of the world’ s bestcapitalised private quantum computing businesses and will support international expansion, additional system deployments and continued technology development.
The round was led by Bullhound Capital and included backing from the British Business Bank, Fynveur, COFIDES, Alpha Edison, Fulcrum Asset Management, Pentland Ventures, Magdalen College Oxford, Adaptive Capital Partners, Firgun, 18 West and Oxford Capital. Existing investors including Oxford Science Enterprises, SBI, Chevron Technology Ventures, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co. and OTIF Ventures also participated. J. P. Morgan served as exclusive placement agent.
Founded in the UK, OQC develops superconducting quantum computers
OQC secures £ 260 million in Europe’ s largest private quantum computing funding round
designed for deployment in data-centre environments supporting enterprise and government users. The company has established a global platform spanning Europe, North America and Asia, with systems already deployed in the UK, US, Japan and Spain.
Demand is increasing from sectors including financial services, defence and security as organisations seek secure, scalable quantum infrastructure capable of addressing challenges beyond the reach of classical computing. The new funding will expand OQC’ s presence in priority markets and accelerate progress toward commercially useful fault-tolerant quantum computing.
CEO Gerald Mullally described the investment as a milestone for British quantum computing, highlighting growing
confidence in the sector’ s commercial potential and OQC’ s ability to scale globally. The deal underscores Europe’ s growing momentum in advanced technologies today.
EU launches tech sovereignty plan to strengthen European chips, cloud and AI capabilities
European Union leaders have unveiled a new technology sovereignty initiative designed to strengthen the bloc’ s domestic capabilities in semiconductors, cloud computing and AI as concerns grow over reliance on foreign technology providers.
European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said the strategy would help Europe maintain greater control over key technologies while supporting innovation and competitiveness across the region.
The package, announced by the European Commission, aims to reduce Europe’ s dependence on US technology companies for cloud and AI services and Asian manufacturers for advanced microchips. Officials argued that growing geopolitical tensions have highlighted the risks associated with relying on a limited number of external suppliers for critical digital infrastructure.
According to the Commission, Europe must avoid risky dependencies on dominant suppliers and strengthen its ability to make independent technology decisions. The initiative reflects increasing concern that critical technologies could become vulnerable to geopolitical disputes or external political pressures. A central element of the package is a follow-up to the EU’ s 2023 Chips Act. The proposed measures would streamline regulatory processes for semiconductor manufacturing facilities, encourage investment and support the development of a stronger European chipmaking ecosystem.
The package also places significant emphasis on cloud infrastructure and AI development. EU officials outlined plans to triple Europe’ s data centre capacity over the next five to seven years to support growing demand driven by AI applications and cloud services. The proposals will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before any legislation can be formally adopted. www. intelligentcio. com
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