Silicon Spin Qubits and the IBM–HRL Acquisition with Thaddeus D. Ladd

IBM's pending acquisition of HRL Laboratories is the biggest structural move in quantum hardware in years — but the announcement names sensing, networking, cryogenics, control electronics, and packaging alongside silicon spin qubits. Thaddeus D. Ladd, Chief Scientist of HRL's Computational Physics Division, joins Sebastian to explain what HRL has actually built, why the 2026 QPU paper may matter more for its integrated control stack than its qubit fidelity numbers, and what it means for the future of quantum hardware when one storied industrial research lab acquires another.