Universal Quantum is a UK company building utility-scale trapped-ion quantum computers. It was founded in 2018 as a spinout from the University of Sussex by Sebastian Weidt and Winfried Hensinger, who had co-authored a 2017 blueprint for a large-scale trapped-ion quantum computer. Its approach is modular: many small silicon chiplets carrying trapped-ion qubits are tiled together, linked by its patented UQConnect micro-electric-field interconnect, avoiding photonic links and large laser arrays. Its engineering roadmap targets fault-tolerant machines.

The company is delivering a $77 million (EUR 67 million) contract with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Quantum Computing Initiative to build multi-chip trapped-ion quantum computers, and has an agreement with Atlas Copco on vacuum and cryogenic systems. It also works with TUHH on programming interfaces for 100,000-qubit machines and with AIST in Japan on scalable trapped-ion computing.

In October 2026 it announced a Series A of over $100 million, co-led by DCVC and Firgun Ventures, described as the largest Series A ever raised by a UK-headquartered quantum firm. The funds are for modular technology development, expansion in Hamburg, the US and Japan, and a Singapore R&D competency centre backed by more than SGD 30 million, its first R&D site outside Europe. The company has more than 100 staff across several countries.