---
title: "IonQ printed 71.6% more shares to buy its quantum empire. November reveals the next tranche."
description: "Diluted shares are up 71.6% in under two years to buy Oxford Ionics and SkyWater, and the $2.12 billion cash cushion grows only because new equity arrives faster than the burn. November's Q3 print puts SkyWater's 24 million shares in the count for the first time."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-09-22T16:07:36.479Z
modified: 2026-09-22T16:07:36.479Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ionq-printed-71-6-more-shares-to-buy-its-quantum-empire-november-reveals-the-next-tranche
language: en
keywords: "Quantum Computing, IonQ, Dilution, M&A, Earnings"
---

# IonQ printed 71.6% more shares to buy its quantum empire. November reveals the next tranche.

> Diluted shares are up 71.6% in under two years to buy Oxford Ionics and SkyWater, and the $2.12 billion cash cushion grows only because new equity arrives faster than the burn. November's Q3 print puts SkyWater's 24 million shares in the count for the first time.

## A Korea deal lands on a balance sheet built from stock

[IonQ](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/ionq) [announced on 21 September](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/ionq-sdt-announce-first-strategic-223100723.html) a multi-year deal with Korea's SDT: the country's first Superion 256 system and silicon-vacancy quantum memory module, plus a Gumi plant to package that memory and assemble machines [1][2]. Deliveries are expected in 2027 [1]. SDT chief executive Jiwon Yune calls Gumi "a key operational hub for IonQ's global supply chain" [2]. The expansion runs on a balance sheet with one dominant input: IonQ's own shares.

## The share count is the funding model

Since September 2024, diluted weighted-average shares have climbed from 214.31 million to 367.66 million, up 71.6% [3]. That currency bought Oxford Ionics for roughly $1 billion in September 2025 and SkyWater Technology for $1.8 billion, closed 31 July, both paid mostly in stock [3]. SkyWater's holders took about $741 million in cash plus roughly 24 million new shares, near 6% of the company [4].

The count has since flatlined between roughly 358 million and 369 million; the small dip into June is weighted-average timing, not retirement [3]. At [Investor Day](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/takeaways-from-ionq-s-investor-day-a-new-quantum-system-and-1-8-billion-deal/ar-AA2bPrbA), chief executive Niccolo de Masi was blunt: "we raised $3.4 billion last year" [5]. Name the sides and the trade is one line: Oxford Ionics and SkyWater holders, and IonQ's cash account, took the value; existing IonQ holders supplied the currency [3][4].

*Chart: **Diluted share count up 71.6% in under two years of dealmaking** Line chart of IonQ's diluted weighted-average share count rising from 214.31 million in Q3 2024 to 367.66 million in Q2 2026, with the jump past the Oxford Ionics close in late 2025 and the small dip into June explained as weighted-average timing.*

*Weighted-average diluted shares outstanding, millions, at the four markers reported between Q3 2024 and Q2 2026. The count has held near 358 million to 369 million since the Oxford Ionics close, and SkyWater's roughly 24 million consideration shares first appear in Q3 2026 results. Source: TIKR via Yahoo Finance, 22 September 2026. [3]*

## The cushion grows because the equity does

Cash and short-term investments rose from $2.03 billion to $2.12 billion in the second quarter while IonQ burned $113.97 million of free cash flow, after $159.39 million in the first [3]. That closes one way only: financing arrived faster than cash left [3].

Twelve straight quarters of negative free cash flow sit alongside cash and equivalents climbing from about $37 million to $1.24 billion [6]. The runway is not an asset. It is the dilution, parked in a cash account.

*Chart: **Cash piled up for 12 quarters while free cash flow stayed negative** Line chart showing IonQ's cash and equivalents climbing to $1.24 billion while quarterly free cash flow stays below zero in all twelve quarters to Q2 2026.*

*Cash and equivalents versus free cash flow (operating cash flow less capital spending), US$ billions, quarterly from Q3 2023 to Q2 2026, from IonQ's SEC filings via Sharadar. Financing, not operations, moved the cash line. [6]*

About $1.05 billion of it left at the SkyWater close anyway: $741 million to foundry holders, roughly $315 million to retire debt and cover deal costs, leaving about $2.0 billion pro forma [4][7].

## A third of the guidance is a foundry IonQ just bought

The bull case has receipts: $80.1 million of second-quarter revenue, up 287%, and $485 million of performance obligations against $122 million a year earlier [3]. The Korea deal feeds the same stack, with first deliveries in 2027 [1][2].

The September guidance lift is softer evidence. [The new range of $450 million to $460 million](https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/ionq-announces-increased-full-year-2026-financial-outlook-following-skywater) [8], up from $280 million to $290 million set in early August, is the third raise this year and the first that is consolidation rather than the quantum business beating its own forecast [9]. Finance chief Inder Singh's bridge nets SkyWater's five stub months to about $170 million after eliminating roughly $70 million IonQ itself pays the foundry: more than a third of the total, on an organic rate still near 132% [3].

The cost side widened faster. Adjusted EBITDA was a $120.3 million loss for the quarter against $36.5 million a year earlier, and gross margin fell to 24.9% from 59.8% as hardware displaced cloud [10][7]. Management said it could not yet give combined-company EBITDA guidance, days after the close [3].

## November counts the missing shares

SkyWater's 24 million shares sit in no reported count yet. They arrive with third-quarter results, due in November, alongside the first combined-company adjusted EBITDA guidance [3][4]. A foundry with thousands of wafers in production adds capital spending to a burn that stock, not earnings, has always covered [3].

The printing press has bought more than three years of runway and a manufacturing stack [3]. November prices the next run.

## Takeaway

IonQ funds its expansion by printing shares, not earning cash: diluted shares are up 71.6% in under two years, the cash pile grows only because new equity arrives faster than the burn, and November's Q3 results will be the first to count SkyWater's 24 million shares.

## Sources

1. [GuruFocus via Yahoo Finance, "IonQ Stock in Focus After Major South Korea Quantum Deal", 22 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/ionq-stock-focus-major-south-122533657.html)
2. [Business Wire via Yahoo Finance, "IonQ and SDT Announce the First Strategic Partnership to Bring Both Advanced Quantum Computing and Quantum Networking to the Asia-Pacific Region", 21 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/ionq-sdt-announce-first-strategic-223100723.html)
3. [TIKR via Yahoo Finance (Gian Estrada), "IonQ Just Diluted Shareholders by 71%. Here's Why the Math Still Works Out", 22 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ionq-just-diluted-shareholders-71-095959246.html)
4. [The Motley Fool via Yahoo Finance (Daniel Sparks), "IonQ Paid $1.8 Billion for a Chip Foundry. Here's What Investors Should Know.", 16 August 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/ionq-paid-1-8-billion-080100961.html)
5. [Barron's via MSN (Mackenzie Tatananni), "Takeaways from IonQ's investor day: A new quantum system and $1.8 billion deal", 8 September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/takeaways-from-ionq-s-investor-day-a-new-quantum-system-and-1-8-billion-deal/ar-AA2bPrbA)
6. [Sharadar quarterly fundamentals, from IonQ's SEC filings, retrieved 22 September 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001824920)
7. [FinanceFeeds (Tobi Opeyemi Amure), "IonQ Stock Price Prediction: $75 Bull vs $22 Bear Case", 18 September 2026](https://financefeeds.com/ionq-stock-price-prediction-75-bull-22-bear/)
8. [IonQ press release via Nasdaq, "IonQ Announces Increased Full-Year 2026 Financial Outlook Following SkyWater Acquisition", 8 September 2026](https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/ionq-announces-increased-full-year-2026-financial-outlook-following-skywater)
9. [The Motley Fool via MSN (Daniel Sparks), "IonQ just raised its 2026 revenue outlook by about 60%. Most of the raise isn't quantum computing.", 8 September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/ionq-just-raised-its-2026-revenue-outlook-by-about-60-most-of-the-raise-isn-t-quantum-computing/ar-AA2bQdnv)
10. [CoinCentral (Trader Edge), "IonQ Stock: Revenue Forecast Jumps 60% After SkyWater Acquisition", 9 September 2026](https://coincentral.com/ionq-stock-revenue-forecast-jumps-60-after-skywater-acquisition/)


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IonQ printed 71.6% more shares to buy its quantum empire. November reveals the next tranche. — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ionq-printed-71-6-more-shares-to-buy-its-quantum-empire-november-reveals-the-next-tranche