- Domain
- Critical Technology · Hard Power
- Identifier
- factbase.org/cpg/2AVA17HE0F
- Capabilities
- 4
Bounds. Holds quantum technology as national capacity; the enabling materials, cryogenics and photonics are shared with the materials group, the specialist workforce with Human Capital, and the migration of national systems to quantum-resistant cryptography reads at the deploy layer with the systems themselves across Strategic Infrastructure and National Security.
The 4 capabilities
United States 21%
China 42%
South Korea 25%The capabilities compared
Papers and patent families, 2020–2024, with growth on the five years before and the leading nation in each.
| Capability | Papers | Growth | Research leader | Families | Growth | Patent leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantum Computing | 63.7k | +220% | United States 21% | 10.8k | +326% | China 42% |
| Quantum Communication | 23.7k | +140% | China 23% | 5.6k | +121% | China 67% |
| Quantum Sensing & Metrology | 9.3k | +104% | United States 19% | 1.6k | +35% | China 41% |
| Post-Quantum Cryptography | 5.8k | +142% | China 19% | 505 | +125% | South Korea 25% |
Who publishes it
Papers by year for each capability, and the nations' shares of the group's papers, 2020–2024. A capability that shares a v0.0 topic with another counts it in both.
- 1United States10.6%10,905 papers
- 2China9.9%10,148 papers
- 3Germany3.9%4,045 papers
- 4India3.3%3,400 papers
- 5United Kingdom3.0%3,098 papers
- 6Japan2.7%2,809 papers
- 7Canada1.9%1,909 papers
- 8Italy1.8%1,806 papers
- 9France1.8%1,806 papers
- 10Spain1.4%1,464 papers
Who patents it
Patent families by priority year for each capability, and the origin nations' shares of the group's families, 2020–2024. A family in two capabilities' classes counts in both.
- 1China48.6%8,971 families
- 2United States20.5%3,786 families
- 3Japan6.9%1,278 families
- 4South Korea5.2%953 families
- 5Germany4.6%850 families
- 6France2.3%431 families
- 7United Kingdom2.1%392 families
- 8Canada1.6%287 families
- 9Israel1.0%182 families
- 10Finland0.9%164 families
Who makes it
The companies across the group's capabilities, the global leaders and the leading firms of every region.
172 companies in Quantum Technologies, from 31 nations across 7 regions; the leading 25 below. Sorted by how experts see each company's global relevance in its strongest capability of the group, from very high to very low.
- Very high9 companies
- 1Very highComponents & subsystemsCharlotteUnited States1906102kHON
Honeywell Aerospace develops cold-atom and quantum inertial sensors for GPS-denied navigation and holds major international patent filings in atomic sensing, and it is also the majority owner of Quantinuum.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
Very high relevance · Components & subsystems · United States, Charlotte · founded 1906 · 102k staff
- 2Very highSoftware & platformsArmonkUnited States1911270kIBM
IBM Research Zurich researchers co-authored three of the four NIST PQC standards (ML-KEM/CRYSTALS-Kyber, ML-DSA/CRYSTALS-Dilithium, FN-DSA/Falcon), and IBM sells Quantum Safe migration tools and services.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
Very high relevance · Software & platforms · United States, Armonk · founded 1911 · 270k staff
- 3Very highHardware & devicesKawasakiJapan1875105kPrivate
Largest international patent holder in quantum communication and a leading commercial QKD vendor (multiplexed and twin-field QKD systems) deployed in BT's London network, in Korea and in Southeast Asia; taken private by JIP in 2023.
In Quantum Communication
Very high relevance · Hardware & devices · Japan, Kawasaki · founded 1875 · 105k staff
- 4Very highSoftware & platformsMountain ViewUnited States1998183kGOOGL
Google co-designed SPHINCS+ (SLH-DSA), turned on hybrid ML-KEM key exchange by default in Chrome, and is rolling PQC out across Google Cloud KMS and its internal traffic.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
Very high relevance · Software & platforms · United States, Mountain View · founded 1998 · 183k staff
- 5Very highComponents & subsystemsChandlerUnited States198919kMCHP
Microchip's frequency and time systems unit is the leading maker of commercial chip-scale atomic clocks (CSAC), cesium beam standards and hydrogen masers used in defence, telecoms and metrology.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
Very high relevance · Components & subsystems · United States, Chandler · founded 1989 · 19k staff
- 6Very highHardware & devicesHefeiChina2009495688027
USTC spin-off that supplies QKD equipment for China's Beijing-Shanghai backbone and metro quantum networks; China Telecom Quantum Group became its controlling shareholder in 2025 and it stands here for that group.
In Quantum Communication
Very high relevance · Hardware & devices · China, Hefei · founded 2009 · 495 staff
- 7Very highHardware & devicesCollege ParkUnited States2015–IONQ
Took control of ID Quantique, the Swiss pioneer of commercial QKD and QRNG (Clavis/Cerberis), in 2025 and also bought Qubitekk and Lightsynq; IDQ deployed Slovakia's national skQCI network.
In Quantum Communication
Very high relevance · Hardware & devices · United States, College Park · founded 2015
- 8Very highHardware & devicesBroomfieldUnited States2021–Private
Honeywell-majority-owned maker of the H-series and Helios trapped-ion quantum computers, which hold record two-qubit gate fidelities and quantum volume.
In Quantum Computing
Very high relevance · Hardware & devices · United States, Broomfield · founded 2021
- 9Very highOperations & infrastructureSan FranciscoUnited States20094,263NET
Cloudflare runs hybrid post-quantum key agreement by default across its global network and carries a large share of the world's PQ-protected TLS traffic.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
Very high relevance · Operations & infrastructure · United States, San Francisco · founded 2009 · 4,263 staff
- High16 companies
- 10HighSystems integrationFalls ChurchUnited States193997kNOC
Northrop Grumman developed the nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope and other atomic inertial sensors, and is among the top international patent applicants in quantum sensing.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
High relevance · Systems integration · United States, Falls Church · founded 1939 · 97k staff
- 11HighDesignOxfordUnited Kingdom2018––
Oxford spin-out whose researchers contributed to the NIST PQC standards (Falcon and others); it licenses PQC hardware IP and software libraries to chipmakers and OEMs.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
High relevance · Design · United Kingdom, Oxford · founded 2018
- 12HighHardware & devicesShenzhenChina1987208kPrivate
Ranks among the top international patent applicants in quantum communication (CV-QKD and QKD network integration), with work done in Shenzhen and at its Düsseldorf research centre.
In Quantum Communication
High relevance · Hardware & devices · China, Shenzhen · founded 1987 · 208k staff
- 13HighComponents & subsystemsParisFrance2005100kSAF
Safran's Orolia business, including Spectratime, which it acquired in 2022, makes rubidium and passive hydrogen maser atomic clocks for Galileo and resilient timing systems.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
High relevance · Components & subsystems · France, Paris · founded 2005 · 100k staff
- 14HighSystems integrationParisFrance189383kHO
Thales sells Luna HSMs with FIPS 140-3 validated PQC support, PQC-ready smart cards and 5G SIMs, and quantum-safe network encryptors for governments.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
High relevance · Systems integration · France, Paris · founded 1893 · 83k staff
- 15HighHardware & devicesParisFrance––EXA
Exail, which absorbed Muquans, sells the Absolute Quantum Gravimeter and cold-atom quantum inertial sensors, the first commercial cold-atom gravimetry products.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
High relevance · Hardware & devices · France, Paris
- 16HighComponents & subsystemsNeubibergGermany199958kIFX
Infineon is a top PQC patent applicant, made the first Common Criteria-certified security controller with ML-KEM, and ships PQC-protected TPM and secure-element firmware.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
High relevance · Components & subsystems · Germany, Neubiberg · founded 1999 · 58k staff
- 17HighSoftware & platformsRedmondUnited States1975228kMSFT
Develops topological qubits (Majorana 1 chip), the Azure Quantum cloud platform and qubit-virtualisation work with Quantinuum and Atom Computing.
In Quantum Computing
High relevance · Software & platforms · United States, Redmond · founded 1975 · 228k staff
- 18HighProfessional & data servicesTokyoJapan1899105k6701
Long-standing QKD system developer and a major patent holder; with NICT it built the Tokyo QKD Network and supplies QKD equipment for Japanese government links.
In Quantum Communication
High relevance · Professional & data services · Japan, Tokyo · founded 1899 · 105k staff
- 19HighHardware & devicesBoulderUnited States2007–INFQ
Infleqtion, formerly ColdQuanta, builds neutral-atom optical clocks (Tiqker), quantum RF receivers and inertial sensors, and listed on the NYSE in February 2026.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
High relevance · Hardware & devices · United States, Boulder · founded 2007
- 20HighComponents & subsystemsEindhovenNetherlands200633kNXPI
NXP researchers co-authored CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium, and NXP is adding PQC to its secure elements, microcontrollers and automotive processors.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
High relevance · Components & subsystems · Netherlands, Eindhoven · founded 2006 · 33k staff
- 21HighHardware & devicesPalo AltoUnited States2016––
Most heavily funded quantum startup, building utility-scale photonic fault-tolerant machines with GlobalFoundries and government-backed sites in Brisbane and Chicago.
In Quantum Computing
High relevance · Hardware & devices · United States, Palo Alto · founded 2016
- 22HighOperations & infrastructureSeattle, WashingtonUnited States19941.6mAMZN
Runs the Amazon Braket quantum cloud service and the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, which unveiled the Ocelot cat-qubit error-correction chip in 2025.
In Quantum Computing
High relevance · Operations & infrastructure · United States, Seattle, Washington · founded 1994 · 1.6m staff
- 23HighSoftware & platformsPalo AltoUnited States2022––
Alphabet spin-out whose AQtive Guard cryptographic inventory and PQC migration platform is used by US federal agencies (via DISA) and large banks.
In Post-Quantum Cryptography
High relevance · Software & platforms · United States, Palo Alto · founded 2022
- 24HighHardware & devicesPalo AltoUnited States1999–QBTS
Pioneer of commercial quantum annealing (Advantage2 system, Burnaby-origin) and now also developing gate-model superconducting qubits.
In Quantum Computing
High relevance · Hardware & devices · United States, Palo Alto · founded 1999
- 25HighSoftware & platformsSydneyAustralia2017––
Q-CTRL's Ironstone Opal quantum magnetic navigation system has been field-validated in air, land and sea trials as a GPS alternative, and the company is also developing quantum gravimetry.
In Quantum Sensing & Metrology
High relevance · Software & platforms · Australia, Sydney · founded 2017
