As the global quantum race accelerates and governments move from declarations to industrial deployment, IonQ’s choice goes far beyond a commercial footprint. The company is bringing to Italy a complete quantum stack — from hardware and algorithms to networking, cryptography and sensing — in line with Rome’s attempt to build a national quantum ecosystem.
The big picture: Italy has the opportunity to ignite what he calls an Italian Quantum Renaissance —a technological renewal capable of attracting and repatriating talent, catalysing new supply chains, and placing the country among the few that design, build, and deploy quantum technologies—not merely those that use them.
Why it matters: Marco Pistoia is not simply the head of a new subsidiary.
He is one of the world’s foremost quantum computing leaders — a scientist, technologist and former JPMorgan Chase executive who built one of the most advanced quantum teams in global finance.
- His appointment signals that IonQ Italy is meant to be an operational powerhouse: developing hardware, co-designing algorithms, shaping quantum-safe security, and anchoring Italy inside the next technological cycle.
- His return after 28 years in the United States embodies IonQ’s broader bet — that Italian talent, if empowered, can drive a national-scale quantum ecosystem and connect Rome to both Washington and Brussels.
Q: How can quantum computing help Italy become a technological hub for Europe and the Mediterranean region?
A: Quantum computing represents the next industrial revolution. With the creation of IonQ Italy, of which I have the honour of having been appointed CEO, we are taking a strategic step that can profoundly transform Italy’s role on the global stage. Guided by the vision of our worldwide CEO and Chairman, Niccolò de Masi, we chose not to open a simple commercial office, but to establish a true technological subsidiary in Italy.
- IonQ Italy will be a centre where frontier quantum technologies are developed, designed, and built, including quantum hardware, algorithms, applications, quantum networking, quantum-safe cryptography, and quantum sensing. Rome is our natural choice: it is the political, economic and geographical heart of the country.
- From here, we aim to contribute to building what Niccolò and I call the Italian Quantum Renaissance: an ecosystem capable of attracting talents who have emigrated, bringing back those who have left, and positioning the country as a vital node of European and Mediterranean innovation.
Q: What kind of impulse can quantum computing give to our industry?
A: An extraordinary impulse. Quantum technology is not an incremental improvement: it is a paradigm shift. When a country begins to design and build quantum computers — not simply to use them — it stimulates an entirely new industrial chain, encompassing advanced materials, microfabrication, sensing, cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, energy, finance, logistics, mobility, and much more.
- IonQ is today the only quantum industry in the world that possesses a comprehensive platform, encompassing all quantum technologies: quantum computing, quantum networking, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing. In each of these disciplines, IonQ is the global leader.
Q: Can you give us an example?
A: IonQ’s quantum computer is the one in which quantum bits, or “qubits,” have the highest fidelity and the highest scalability factor. Bringing the development of this platform to Italy means giving Italian companies, universities, and government organisations privileged access to the world’s most advanced technology.
Q: What is the objective of IonQ Italy?
A: IonQ Italy was not created to import and sell technologies developed in America. On the contrary, IonQ Italy will work directly with Italian universities, industries, and institutions to co-develop concrete applications of immediate value, as demonstrated by the fact that we will begin by hiring at least 100 people, including researchers, engineers, and developers.
- This will accelerate productivity, innovation, and, above all, the ability of Italian companies to compete on the global level.
- In this way, IonQ Italy will make a significant contribution to the quantum turning point across the national territory at every level, from schools and universities to industries and government organisations.
Q: But it’s not only an industrial issue. Security is also at stake. What threats are we facing, and what can the quantum computer do in this regard?
A: Security is one of the pillars of quantum technology and is also a necessity. Future quantum computers will render many classical cryptographic systems vulnerable, posing enormous challenges for governments, companies, and citizens. However, at the same time, quantum technology offers the most advanced solutions in the world for building “post-quantum” security, that is, resistant to quantum computing.
- IonQ has developed the industry’s most advanced platform precisely in this field and possesses world-leading technologies for quantum key distribution (QKD), quantum-safe cryptography and quantum-secure networking. QKD, in particular, is today the only cryptographic protocol for distributing cryptographic keys that is mathematically secure, because its security is not based on mathematical assumptions or hard-to-solve problems, but on fundamental physical laws, such as the uncertainty principle.
- This means that any attempt to intercept a cryptographic key can be instantly discovered and eliminated.
- No classical algorithm possesses this crucial property. With IonQ Italy, we aim to bring this technology to the heart of Italian infrastructure, in collaboration with universities, governments, and strategic industries. National security, in the next decade, will be quantum.
Q: The Italian government also played a role in the decision to open IonQ Italy in Rome. How is Palazzo Chigi acting on AI and quantum technologies?
A: The Italian government is demonstrating a level of vision and timeliness that must be clearly recognised. The publication in 2025 of the “Italian Strategy for Quantum Technologies” is a strong signal: the country has finally grasped the urgent character and strategic value that these technologies will have in the next 10–20 years. Now we must take the next step: transform the strategy into concrete actions.
- Educational programmes are needed in schools and universities, as well as funds for research and companies, incentives for collaboration between public, private, and academic institutions, and infrastructure for experimentation and production.
- IonQ Italy wants to be an active partner in this process.
- Our presence in Rome is not symbolic: it is operational and strategic. We aim to contribute, alongside the government, to establishing Italian and European quantum leadership.
Q: Thanks to quantum computing, can Italy really become a bridge between the US and the EU due to its middle-ground approach to AI?
- A: Yes, and I say this not only as a scientist, but as someone who worked twenty-eight years in the United States and knows both cultures well. Italy has a unique position: it is technically competent, culturally open, and strategically credible to both Washington and Brussels. With the arrival of IonQ Italy, this role can become even stronger.
- We bring to Italy the development of new technology, direct investment, the creation of advanced skills, and a complete quantum infrastructure. At the same time, we collaborate with European universities and industries.
- Italy can become a technological bridge, an open laboratory where the United States and the European Union can find common ground to advance AI and quantum technologies in a responsible, safe, and transparent manner.
Q: What will you bring from your experience at JPMorgan and, more generally, from the United States?
A: I bring three key elements. The first is the culture of radical innovation. In America I learned that innovation is not a project, it is an environment. It is the ability of a team to move quickly, to accept risk and to pursue objectives that seem impossible. I also bring the art of building teams of excellence.
- At JPMorganChase I had the privilege of creating from scratch and leading one of the best quantum computing teams on the planet. That experience taught me that the most advanced technology arises only when talented scientists with vision and humility are brought together. Lastly, the certainty that Italy can be a protagonist.
- After twenty-eight years in the United States, I return with a profound conviction: Italy must not and cannot be a follower.
- Italy must be a leader. With the creation of IonQ Italy, we want to demonstrate that the country has the talent, creativity and vision to lead the global Quantum Renaissance.
The bottom line: IonQ’s move intertwines industrial strategy, national security and geopolitics.
- For Italy, quantum is not just a technological frontier; it is a way to expand strategic depth, build alliance-friendly industrial capabilities, and position itself as a transatlantic bridge in an era defined by computation, security and hybrid threats.
