How foreign quantum vendors sell in Japan: government procurement, trading houses, and PoC
From the perspective of foreign quantum vendors, Japan looks like a very attractive market right now. The government has large quantum-related budgets, and AIST and RIKEN actually procure overseas quantum computers. In addition, major companies in automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, finance, and electronics have R&D budgets. From the outside, Japan looks like “a country with money to spend on quantum.”
In interviews with industry insiders conducted exclusively by Quantum Index, foreign firms consistently mention Japan’s government funding, large-corporate demand, and purchasing power of national research institutes. Discussions go beyond simply setting up a local subsidiary: partnerships with domestic firms, equity investments, and even M&A are being considered as ways to gain access to customers, research institutions, and government projects.
However, having money in Japan doesn’t mean products will sell easily. The current Japanese market is better described as a two-tier structure: large-scale hardware procurement by the government and national research institutes, and exploratory demand from private companies centered on cloud, collaborative research, and PoCs.
What is truly difficult for foreign vendors is not entering Japan. The hard part is understanding where Japanese money flows, who signs the purchase, and who ultimately uses the technology—and converting that first deal into recurring revenue.
“Japan has money” is half true
QuEra won a large contract from AIST to deliver a neutral-atom quantum computer. Quantinuum also deployed a trapped-ion quantum computertrapped-ion quantum computerTrapped-Ion Quantum Computer / Trapped-Ion Quantum Computer / Trapped-Ion Quantum ComputingAn approach that uses the internal states of ions trapped by electric fields as qubits, and implements quantum gates using lasers and similar tools.QI NoteCharacterized by high operational precision and long coherence times, but there are separate challenges for speed and large-scale integration. It is important not to compare architectures based on a single metric alone. at RIKEN and upgraded to the System Model H2 by 2026.
Looking at these cases, it may appear that quantum computers themselves can be sold in Japan. But the main buyers are national research institutes. According to market participants interviewed exclusively by Quantum Index, major Japanese corporations still primarily use gate-model quantum computers via cloud, collaborative research, contract research, and PoCs.
The reason is simple: it is difficult at this stage to demonstrate a clear business return that would justify purchasing devices costing several hundred million yen. Moreover, with superconducting, trapped-ion, neutral-atom, photonics, and other approaches, it is still unclear which platform will prevail. For that reason, larger companies prefer to conduct parallel research with multiple platforms and vendors.
Not betting a single company or technology on an unsettled field is itself rational.
The current enterprise quantum market in Japan is closer to a market for exploring what might be useful than a straightforward “market to buy machines.”
How foreign vendors are entering the Japanese market
Companies’ strategies differ considerably.
| Company | Main entry into Japan | GTM characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Quantinuum | Japan office + RIKEN | Builds its own organization and uses national research institutes as anchor customers |
| QuEra | AIST large procurement | Uses government projects as a foothold for domestic R&D |
| IQM | Toyo Corporation + AIST | Uses local distributor as sales and technical support hub |
| IonQ | Toyota Tsusho + AIST | Enters market using the trading house’s customer network |
| QUDORA | Japan subsidiary + domestic partnerships + public R&D | Even at small scale, deeply connects to the Japanese ecosystem |
| D-Wave | Long-term sales + corporate projects | Aims to move from PoC to pilot to production |
| Classiq | Japan GM + corporate PoCs | Software-focused; emphasis on sustainable expansion |
IonQ announced in 2025 a flagship distributor partnership with Toyota Tsusho Corporation for the Japanese market, positioning this as its market entry. IonQ said it had already secured its first domestic project at the time of the announcement, although the customer and contract value were not disclosed.
IQM went a step further: the distributor Toyo Corporation itself purchased a 20-qubit Radiance 20 in 2026. It plans to offer the system both on-premises and via cloud.
However, this is not the same as a regular company buying hardware for its own computing needs. By owning the hardware, the distributor can provide demos, evaluations, training, technical support, and cloud access.
In other words, this is more an investment in GTM infrastructure than an end-user capital expenditure.
In Japan, collaboration is the GTM
In exclusive interviews, Quantum Index found that foreign firms are acutely aware of the entry barriers in Japan. But the challenges are not just language or contractual customs. On the customer side, organizations have yet to establish what they should actually deploy for quantum computing.
Therefore, vendors must accompany customers through a long process: use case exploration → technical evaluation → PoC → internal justification → next year’s budget. Sales personnel alone are insufficient; teams must include FDEs, application scientists, trading houses, system integrators, universities, and national research institutes.
That is why IonQ partners with Toyota Tsusho and IQM with Toyo Corporation.
In Japan, it matters not only who you sell to, but who you sell with.
Collaboration with Japanese companies itself constitutes the GTM.
QUDORA — connection density over scale
An interesting example is Germany’s QUDORA. The company established a Japan subsidiary in May 2026 and announced a collaboration with Fixstars Amplify. QUDORA initially offers its emulator on the cloud and plans to expand access to trapped-ion hardware in the future.
Its Japan unit is also participating in NEDO’s post-5G related R&D (see PDF). While QUDORA is not as large as IonQ or Quantinuum, it is combining a Japan subsidiary + domestic partners + public R&D to create connections into Japan’s quantum ecosystem.
In the Japanese market, the density of connections with domestic players may matter more for GTM than company size.
Build, partner, invest, buy
There are four main ways foreign vendors can acquire the capabilities they need in Japan.
| Strategy | Aim |
|---|---|
| Build | Set up a Japan subsidiary, sales, and technical support in-house |
| Partner | Leverage existing domestic players such as trading houses, SIers, and national institutes |
| Invest | Use strategic equity investments to deepen relationships with domestic companies |
| Buy | Acquire customers, talent, and channels at once via M&A |
In exclusive interviews, Quantum Index heard discussions about obtaining access to the Japanese market by investing in or acquiring domestic quantum companies. The goal is not only technology, but also to quickly gain customers, sales teams, FDEs, university relationships, and access to government projects—to obtain “Japan capability” in a short time.
However, not all companies are suitable acquisition targets. University-origin startups, for example, derive part of their value from ties with the university, researchers, IP, public research funding, and a neutral stance. Bringing them fully under foreign ownership could damage those values.
In such cases, strategic investment + joint research + sales partnerships may be more reasonable than a full acquisition.
What foreign vendors may really be buying is not a Japanese company itself, but an “entry ticket” to the Japanese market.
Government budgets are large—but not open to everyone
Japan’s public funding is clearly attractive to foreign vendors. But it is not a market where projects are accepted simply because they involve quantum.
In NEDO’s 2026 Post-5G program, for example, two applications were submitted for g12-3 “Development of fault-tolerant system software and platform standardization for industrialization of quantum computers,” yet no candidates were selected. NEDO has not abandoned the topic and announced additional calls within fiscal 2026.
The reasons for rejection were not published, so one cannot conclude the problem was individual proposals. But FTQCFTQCFault-Tolerant Quantum Computing / FTQCA method for future large-scale quantum computing that uses quantum error correction to allow correct computation to continue even when physical errors occur.QI NoteA demonstration of quantum error correction is not the same as realizing FTQC. Logical error rates, the number of physical qubits required, logical gate performance, and so on are important.-oriented software depends heavily on assumptions about hardware, error-correction schemes, and the scale of logical qubitslogical qubitsLogical Qubit / Logical QubitA unit of information treated as a single qubit protected from errors by using multiple physical qubits and quantum error correction.QI NoteSimply having “created a logical qubit” does not necessarily mean fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) has been achieved. One should verify logical error rates, operational/gate performance, and scalability.—areas that remain highly dynamic and technically challenging.
Based on interviews conducted by Quantum Index, it appears that government evaluators are carefully judging not only whether something will be needed in the future, but also whether it is worth allocating this scale of public funds to the specific proposal right now.
So, Japan has money. But to access that money you need a narrative that includes technological maturity, Japanese partners, and policy alignment.
User, buyer, and funder are different
Another important feature of Japan’s quantum market is that user ≠ buyer ≠ funder.
Even if corporate or university researchers are using quantum computers, their organizations may not purchase the equipment. National institutes may own facilities, public projects may cover costs, and companies and universities may use shared infrastructure or the cloud.
For foreign vendors, the focus should not only be on the end user.
- Who will use it?
- Who will sign the contract?
- Who holds the budget?
These three must be understood separately.
The real test of Japan GTM is the second sale
From the perspective of foreign quantum vendors, Japan is indeed a market with money. But that money does not simply flow through corporations buying quantum computers one after another.
Today, large hardware procurement by the government and national research institutes coexists with a private-sector exploration market focused on cloud and collaborative research. Therefore, establishing a Japan subsidiary alone is not enough. Companies must enter the Japanese purchasing ecosystem by absorbing heavy deployment support through collaboration with trading houses, SIers, universities, and national institutes.
And the right measure of success for Japan entry is not the number of MOUs or PoCs. What matters is land → expand.
Did the PoC convert to paid use? Was funding secured the following fiscal year? Did cloud usage continue? Did it lead to additional procurement? Cases where a clear “second time” is visible, like Quantinuum and RIKEN’s follow-up procurement, remain limited.
The Japanese market looks appealing. But the real difficulty is not entry. It is turning the first project into second and third sales.
That is where the true competition for foreign quantum vendors in Japan’s GTM plays out.
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