South Korea's Defense Sector Gets A US Gateway With KDEF ETF (UPDATED)

Welcome to the latest edition of "Quantum Leap" where The Fly decodes news and activity in the quantum computing space.QUANTUM IN SPAIN:IQM Quantum Computers and Telefónicahave joined forces to sign a purchase agreement with the Galician Supercomputing Center, or CESGA, to install two full-stack quantum computers in Spain. Under the agreement, IQM will deliver and install a 54-qubit IQM Radiance, designed for integration into high-performance computing centers, together with a 5-qubit IQM Spark system dedicated to education. The systems are scheduled for delivery by June 2026. This will be the first installation of IQM quantum computers in Spain. The systems will be complemented by a new supercomputer, the Finisterrae IV, which will provide additional computing power to meet needs in artificial intelligence, among others, and a data storage system that will make it possible to permanently house large amounts of data and provide more advanced data services. "Delivering production-grade quantum infrastructure into real HPC environments is central to IQM's mission," said Sylwia Barthel de Weydenthal, chief commercial officer of IQM Quantum Computers. "By deploying our systems at CESGA, we are supporting the development of a practical quantum ecosystem in Spain and enabling researchers and industry users to begin meaningful experimentation with hybrid quantum-classical computing."Quantum computing will become an important pillar of future digital infrastructure," said Sergio Sánchez, CTIO Telefónica España. "Through this collaboration with IQM and CESGA, Telefónica is helping bring advanced computing capabilities closer to researchers and enterprises, while supporting Spain's position in next-generation technologies."KISTI PACT:IonQannounced the continuation of its strategic partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information and forthcoming delivery of a 100-qubit IonQ Tempo quantum system. Under the agreement, IonQ will deliver its Tempo 100 quantum system to support KISTI's hybrid quantum-classical research initiatives. The system will be integrated into KISTI-6. The compute cluster will be accessible through a secure private cloud environment, enabling remote access to South Korean researchers, universities, and enterprise users.$1B MARKET VALUATION:Sealsqissued a year-end letter to shareholders from its founder and CEO, Carlos Moreira: "2025 marked a pivotal milestone in the execution of SEALSQ's long-term strategy to become a global reference platform for post-quantum secure semiconductors, trusted hardware, and quantum-resilient infrastructures. Following our successful Nasdaq listing in 2023, in October 2025, SEALSQ's market valuation surpassed $1 billion and SEALSQ achieved a major capital markets milestone in 2025 with its upgrade to the NASDAQ top tier... Throughout the year, SEALSQ achieved several strategic and operational milestones that significantly strengthened our technological leadership, market positioning, and long-term growth prospects... A major highlight was the strategic acquisition of IC'ALPS in mid-2025... In parallel, SEALSQ played a central role in the launched its Quantum Fund in February 2025... SEALSQ also made strategic investments in Quantix Edge Security and entered into partnerships with Quobly and Alpine F1... We are ending the year with a very strong balance sheet supported by cash position of over $440 million as of December 19, 2025, providing SEALSQ with the financial flexibility to execute its growth strategy, pursue selective acquisitions, and invest in breakthrough technologies. In addition to the growing interest in our PQC technology, 2025 marked a very significant increase in revenues from our PKI services offering, driven by contracts signed with companies including Landis+Gyr, Hager, Wago, Delta Dore, Warema, Tedee and Digi, among others. A cornerstone achievement in 2025 was the launch of SEALSQ's "Made in USA" strategy... SEALSQ also signed a term sheet with Kaynes Semiconductors to establish a Joint Venture in India... To structurally connect innovation, industrialization, capital, and sovereignty, SEALSQ continued to expand its Quantum Corridor initiative... As we enter 2026, SEALSQ is well positioned to accelerate commercialization, expand production and personalization capacity, and deepen partnerships with governments, enterprises, and ecosystem leaders worldwide. The convergence of post-quantum cryptography, secure semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing is no longer theoretical, it is happening now, and SEALSQ is at its center."LONG-TERM PLAN:Sealsq also announced its strategic plan for 2026-2030 to advance quantum computing emerging from the semiconductor world, leveraging silicon and CMOS-compatible manufacturing processes as the foundation for viable quantum systems. The company said, "While quantum computing is often portrayed as a single global race defined by qubit counts and experimental milestones, SEALSQ emphasizes that the field is in fact evolving along two fundamentally different technological paths, each with distinct implications for industry, security, and governance. The first path, helium-cooled superconducting quantum systems, has delivered remarkable scientific breakthroughs and remains essential for fundamental research. These systems rely on superconducting qubits operating near absolute zero, requiring complex cryogenic environments and highly specialized infrastructure. Despite impressive experimental progress, such platforms remain costly, energy-intensive, physically large, and difficult to scale beyond laboratory or cloud-based access. As a result, they function primarily as scientific instruments rather than as a foundation for mass-market or industrial high-performance computing. The second path, which SEALSQ is actively pursuing, is quantum computing rooted in the semiconductor ecosystem. In this model, qubits are fabricated using silicon and CMOS-compatible processes, aligned with existing semiconductor design tools, fabrication plants, testing methods, and global supply chains. This approach includes work on silicon spin qubits and hybrid quantum-classical architectures, where quantum components coexist with classical control logic, AI accelerators, and secure computing elements on the same silicon platform."QUANTUMBASEL EXTENSION:IonQ reported an expanded agreement with QuantumBasel, the quantum initiative of uptownBasel, Switzerland's innovation campus. The extended contract grants QuantumBasel ownership of its existing IonQ Forte Enterprise system and secures ownership of a next-generation Tempo system. This new agreement brings the total deal value of the QuantumBasel and IonQ partnership to over $60M and extends IonQ's on-site presence in Switzerland four more years, continuing through 2029. QuantumBasel is IonQ's official Innovation Center in Europe, serving as a hub for European industry, academia, and research institutions to explore quantum computing applications and access IonQ's latest systems. "Our extended partnership with QuantumBasel represents a cornerstone of IonQ's global strategy," said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. "QuantumBasel continues to be a critical innovation node for our company as we expand quantum adoption. We're growing a quantum-ready ecosystem in Europe that is capable of driving progress in material science, defense, AI, life sciences, logistics, and beyond." QuantumBasel and IonQ are also expanding their collaborative research efforts, with new workstreams focused on optimizing large language models and developing hybrid quantum-classical techniques for advanced computing use cases.ANALYST COMMENTARY:Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Sealsq with an Overweight rating and $7 price target. Quantum computing is still in its early stages but carries significant economic and security implications, driving strong investor interest and stock appreciation, the analyst told investors in a research note. Sealsq is developing post-quantum hardware and software solutions, focusing on quantum-resistant cryptography and semiconductors to address emerging security challenges, the firm added.