Oxford Quantum Circuits Expands to Barcelona with €92 Million ($98M USD) Global Manufacturing and R&D Hub
Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) has announced plans to establish its first European Union facility in Barcelona, Spain. Dubbed the OQC Global Quantum Development & Manufacturing Centre, the site will serve as the company's primary global hub for the design, development, and industrialization of its superconducting quantum hardware.
The project represents a €92 million ($98M USD) investment and is projected to create 210 high-skilled jobs over the next five years—more than doubling OQC's current global headcount of 150 employees. Operations are slated to begin in Q4 2026.
Transaction & Funding Details
The expansion follows OQC's recent £260 Million ($350 Million USD) Series C funding round, noted as the largest quantum-specific round in Europe to date.
Public Co-Investment: The Spanish government, via the Coinvestment Fund (FOCO) managed by COFIDES, contributed €46 million directly to the Series C round to anchor the project in Catalonia.
Institutional Support: The move was heavily coordinated by local and national agencies, including ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment, the Barcelona Investment Office, and Barcelona & Partners.
Facility Scope & Technology Focus
Unlike OQC's existing colocation data center footprints in the US and Japan, the Barcelona facility will handle core hardware scaling. The center will feature:
Dedicated laboratory space and technical assembly areas.
Frameworks for applied R&D, industrialization, and systems integration.
A focus on scaling superconducting quantum systems tailored for Quantum Computing as a Service (QCaaS) in sectors like AI, finance, healthcare, and energy.
This move represents a significant geographic shift for the UK-based Oxford University spin-off, securing a critical foothold inside the EU single market to bolster European technological sovereignty. For Spain and the Catalonia region, landing OQC's manufacturing core firmly establishes Barcelona as a frontrunner in Southern Europe’s deep-tech and quantum ecosystem.
More details about this development have been posted on the Catalonia Trade & Investment website here.
June 19, 2026
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