IonQ is the largest pure play in quantum computing, and easily one of the most vocal players. While its ambitious "Nvidia of quantum" title may raise some eyebrows, the stock just earned a vote of confidence from a major Wall Street firm.

The endorsement came as BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya started coverage of the stock Monday with a Buy rating and a $60 price target. IonQ traded flat at $45.44 in premarket trading.

With a market capitalization of over $18 billion and a strong balance sheet, IonQ often boasts of its financial might and positioning as "the world's leading quantum company." This has materialized in a recent acquisition spree, culminating in its purchase of chip maker SkyWater Technology, which closed at the end of July.

The deal, viewed as consequential by Wall Street, has come into sharp focus as the U.S. government intensifies its efforts to secure domestic supply chains for the quantum computing industry and quantum technology more broadly, branching into areas like networking and sensing with national security applications.

In an industry first, the U.S. Commerce Department and International Business Machines each committed $1 billion to build Anderon, styled as the country's first standalone, pure-play quantum foundry. The Trump administration separately poured $375 million into chip maker GlobalFoundries to launch a business unit centered on domestic quantum manufacturing.

Crucially, this has made the technology more palatable to investors who view quantum as a distant, speculative opportunity. As more large firms like Bank of America enter the sector, it serves as an equally important sign that the technology, though years away from broad commercialization, is firmly on their radar.

The government's strategy aligns closely with IonQ's own trajectory. Arya noted that IonQ has used recent mergers and acquisitions to expand into quantum networking, security, and sensing, as well as foundry services. This breadth has added nearer-term products and revenue, built customer relationships, and created additional commercialization paths, Arya added.

The analyst also is constructive on IonQ's latest quantum system, Superion 256, named for the number of physical quantum bits it contains. The system is designed to scale over time and is slated to begin shipping next year.

Superion comprises electronic qubit control technology acquired from Oxford Ionics in late 2025, with chips manufactured in-house at the SkyWater facility. These deals show that IonQ isn't just buying businesses to fuel inorganic growth, but striking deals that directly advance its technical roadmap.

The recently closed SkyWater acquisition "adds an operating merchant-foundry business while bringing process development, wafer fabrication and advanced packaging in-house," Arya noted. IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi previously expressed to Barron's his desire to turn IonQ into a major merchant supplier that sells quantum hardware components to the broader industry rather than just finished computers.

Though less recent than the SkyWater deal, the acquisition of Oxford Ionics is viewed as equally consequential. The purchase of the British start-up gave IonQ access to proprietary technology that helped it claim a quantum performance record and directly bolstered the company's standing within a federal benchmarking initiative.