THU AM News: Quantum tech firm with Madison presence accelerating after going public; Utility, data center developers want tech giant exempted from billion-dollar collateral requirements

June 11, 2026

— Infleqtion, a leading quantum tech firm with offices in Madison, is accelerating with $550 million in new funding after going public earlier this year.

Chief Scientist and UW-Madison physics Prof. Mark Saffman addressed attendees of yesterday’s launch event for the Wisconsin Quantum Alliance in Madison, organized by the Wisconsin Technology Council. The initiative aims to accelerate tech development and commercialization of quantum in Wisconsin, as well as preparing for future workforce needs.

The Colorado-based company, which has had a presence in Madison since 2018, has deployed various forms of quantum computing-enabled technology for use around the world. That includes at government agencies in the United States, UK and Japan as well as commercial customers, even as related academic research continues in Saffman’s lab.

“The products we’re developing have and will have applications in AI, national security, energy optimization and scientific discovery, and also up in space,” Saffman said.

Infleqtion is developing “neutral atom” quantum computers, advanced sensors and related software, leveraging the technical advantage provided by quantum computing over classical computers. This approach differs from other quantum computers that use charged atoms, or ions, allowing the atoms to be held in close confinement with one another.

“You can, with one core technology, attack the whole range of quantum applications,” Saffman said.

By shining a laser through specialized glass capsules containing these atoms in various configurations, the company has created quantum computers, quantum clocks for precise time measurement, radio signal detection tools and “inertial sensors” for navigation and other purposes. .

“Interestingly, the same way that we use atoms for these [radio frequency] sensors is also really the same way we use atoms as part of the computer, so there’s a lot of synergy in these different applications based on the same core technology,” he said.

The company has also created a suite of accompanying software, ranging from systems for controlling the hardware to applications for applied use.

Infleqtion has a “multitude” of contracts with early adopters of the technology, including a potential application in the financial space with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Saffman noted. The company has provided quantum computers to the UK National Quantum Computing Centre, and is under contract to deliver an even larger one to the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park that’s currently being built south of Chicago.

Meanwhile, the company also provided “core technology” for the International Space Station and is currently developing a major project with NASA focused on monitoring resources on the planet’s surface from space.

The company was first founded in 2007 under the name ColdQuanta as a spinoff from the University of Colorado. But Saffman said a key breakthrough in its development occurred in 2010 when scientists in Madison demonstrated the world’s first neutral atom-based “building block” component for quantum computing.

“It became very clear that this wasn’t just a science project, but we had a real chance to build the world’s first usable quantum computer using atoms,” he said, noting WARF was one of the early investors in the company when it opened its R&D facility in Madison about eight years ago.

While other quantum computing companies have gone public in recent years, Saffman says Infleqtion was the first “and so far the only” company working with neutral atom quantum technology to do so.

“Going public gave us the resources to really accelerate,” he said. “We put $550 million on the books … and we’re accelerating the deployment of quantum systems for computing, for sensing, aligned with administration and congressional priorities.”

— Also during yesterday’s Wisconsin Quantum Alliance launch, UW-Milwaukee Vice Chancellor for Research Ali Abedi announced the start of the Milwaukee Quantum Initiative to coordinate the university’s efforts around the technology.

The effort aims to provide a platform for UW-Milwaukee faculty to get engaged in quantum research projects, including through partnerships with UW-Madison scientists and industry partners.

“We are trying to look into how we can look at quantum-adjacent technologies so that we can help local industry in southeastern Wisconsin and also across the border in Illinois to be able to understand how quantum will impact them … and how they should be ready for it,” he said.

The new initiative is focused on core technology areas linked to the strengths of the university’s existing faculty as well as workforce requirements, Abedi said, pointing to quantum materials, sensing, communication and information sciences.

Meanwhile, the MQI aims to ensure Wisconsin plays a role in setting standards for the emerging sector.

“Because the standards are shaping up, and I think Wisconsin should be at the table to shape the standards to match the manufacturing, or agriculture, or health and other industries that we have here,” Abedi said.

See more in a recent story.

— The developers of the Port Washington data center and the utility that powers it are asking the Public Service Commission to reopen the case that set the terms by which data centers buy power.

Vantage Data Centers, Cloverleaf Infrastructure and WEC Energy Group, parent of We Energies, argued in a filing yesterday that credit and collateral requirements imposed by the PSC under its “very large customer” tariff “will significantly narrow the pool of investors willing and able to fund data centers” in Wisconsin.

Specifically, they say meeting those requirements could cost data center investor Oracle, which has a market cap of $592 billion, more than $100 million in fees annually.

Commissioners in April approved strict financial security requirements on “very large customers” in We Energies’ service area, like the $15 billion Port Washington “Lighthouse” campus. Oracle is set to be the primary tenant of that facility.

Under those rules, utility customers are required to either maintain a certain credit rating and liquidity and tangible asset benchmarks, or post the collateral to cover the value of “bespoke” power plants being built to serve the data centers.

The Port Washington plant is expected to demand some 1.3 gigawatts of power in the next five years, and up to 3.9 gigawatts in the long run. Meeting that power need is expected to spur billions of dollars in new generation.

Vantage and Microsoft, which is developing its own data center campus in Port Washington, meet the credit rating and financial security requirements set by the PSC, which are more stringent than originally proposed by WEC.

But Oracle doesn’t. As a result it would need to get the financial security – most likely in the form of a letter of credit – to meet the required collateral, which the company pegs at around $7 billion.

Maintaining that credit would cost the company over $100 million per year in bank fees alone, Oracle Vice President of Infrastructure Capacity and Sourcing Julia Robin argued in an affidavit submitted to the PSC yesterday.

Robin also noted that the PSC did not require Meta to post collateral for its 220 megawatt data center in Beaver Dam. But that facility, which is in Alliant’s service area, is not expected to directly result in new generation being built.

“This decision has the potential to impose significantly increased costs on Oracle as the tenant of the Lighthouse data center, as discussed in the accompanying affidavit submitted on behalf of Oracle, and to defer future investment in the State—a presumably unintended consequence,” WEC and the data center developers wrote in their filing.

Oracle, WEC and the data center developers are asking for the PSC to revisit its decision and modify its tariff to instead require “investment-grade” companies like Oracle to provide a percentage of the collateral currently required, along with a guaranty to pay for the value of any new generation.

Oracle said it was willing to post a letter of credit worth 10% of the power plants built to serve the Port Washington campus, or $700 million.

Consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board argued in support of collateral requirements – and against an exemption based on credit ratings – to prevent Wisconsin consumers from being saddled with the cost of so-called “stranded assets” if data center operators fail and leave their “bespoke” power resources underutilized.

CUB Executive Director Tom Content wrote in a text message yesterday that the advocacy group’s attorney was still reviewing the proposal submitted by WEC, Vantage and Cloverleaf.

“The issue is among the consumer protections CUB advocated for in this case and we certainly appreciated the steps that the commission took to safeguard the We Energies customers we represent from data center-linked costs,” Content wrote. “But we will take the time to review the utility’s request.”

— Madison was ranked No. 2 among top 20 U.S. metros for college students and early-career graduates in a recent report, which highlights the city’s “education-centric” climate.

Online real estate platform CommercialCafe yesterday issued the report, which assessed the cities’ education and talent pipeline, enrollment rates, entry-level job availability, cost of living and other factors.

Madison’s graduate output was second among ranked metros, falling behind only Durham, North Carolina, with 159 graduates per 10,000 residents in 2024. Its share of young adults aged 25-34 with a bachelor’s degree was 64.1% for the year, which was also second highest among metros in the report.

Wisconsin’s capital city also had the second-lowest young adult unemployment rate at 2.8%, though authors note entry-level jobs “are not as readily available” as in Durham. The report shows 14% of all available roles in Madison were “suitable” for early-career grads.

But Madison also had one of the lowest retention rates of young adults among the top 20 metros, as the 20-29 age range shrank by 9% over a five-year period captured in the report.

“Madison data helps explain part of this: Nearly 90% of in-state graduates stay in Wisconsin after graduating, but only 16% of those who arrived from outside the state remain,” authors wrote.

See the report.

— Dem gubernatorial candidate Mandela Barnes is calling for a new income tax bracket for those making more than $1 million, while cutting taxes for middle class earners and driving down property taxes by putting more state money into schools.

Barnes also vowed to “reform” the state’s manufacturing and ag credit by targeting it toward small businesses and family farms while restoring the estate tax for those valued at $15 million or more with an exception for small businesses and farms.

Yesterday’s announcement didn’t include specifics on many of the proposals, including what the new tax bracket would be on incomes of more than $1 million.

The state’s current top income tax rate of 7.65% applies to income of more than $431,060 for married joint filers. It is the 10th highest top bracket of the 50 states.

Dubbed the “Wisconsin Way,” the platform Barnes rolled out includes provisions such as universal child care, lowering energy costs and legalizing recreational marijuana. He also proposed lowering utility and increasing the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to $15 with a gradual increase to $20.

See more details.

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