Quantum Sensors Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Quantum Sensors Market is projected to expand from USD 6.10 Billion in 2025 to USD 9.85 Billion by 2031, reflecting a CAGR of 8.31%. These advanced instruments leverage quantum mechanical phenomena, including superposition and entanglement, to measure physical quantities with exceptional accuracy. The market's growth is primarily fueled by the imperative for dependable navigation systems within defense sectors, especially where GPS is unavailable, and the rising adoption of high-sensitivity diagnostic tools in the healthcare field. Data from the Quantum Economic Development Consortium indicates that global revenue for the quantum sensing sector hit $375 million in 2024.

A major obstacle hindering wider market growth involves the significant complexity and development expenses linked to these technologies. Currently, many quantum sensing solutions exhibit low technology readiness levels and demand specific operating environments, creating considerable hurdles for mass manufacturing and broad commercial uptake in cost-conscious industrial sectors.

Market Drivers

The primary catalyst for market growth is the significant rise in both government and private funding for Quantum R&D, which facilitates the evolution of theoretical physics into practical commercial products. This capital injection is crucial for surmounting technical hurdles and expanding production capabilities to satisfy industrial needs. For instance, the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced a £45 million investment in February 2024 specifically aimed at deploying quantum sensors in sectors such as healthcare and transport. Private sector activity mirrors this dedication, with Q-CTRL securing $59 million in October 2024 to enhance its sensing and infrastructure software, thereby signaling strong commercial confidence in the market's future.

Another pivotal driver is the strategic incorporation of quantum technologies into military and defense operations, driven by the need for unjammable navigation in contemporary warfare. As adversaries acquire advanced jamming abilities, defense agencies are heavily investing in quantum solutions that ensure precise positioning in GPS-denied zones without depending on susceptible satellite signals. This focus leads to substantial budget allocations that support the market's development; as reported by Defense One in October 2024, the U.S. government allocates roughly $900 million annually to quantum sensing, chiefly for defense applications to maintain technological dominance in contested areas.

Market Challenges

The substantial development costs and high complexity inherent in quantum sensing technologies constitute a major hurdle to wider market adoption. Unlike traditional measurement instruments, quantum sensors frequently demand specific operating environments, such as cryogenic temperatures or ultra-high vacuums, to preserve the delicate quantum states required for accuracy. These rigorous conditions result in bulky, costly hardware that poses challenges for miniaturization or integration into current industrial infrastructures, thereby restricting the technology's transition from research settings to practical, budget-conscious commercial uses.

Consequently, the lack of commercial maturity severely limits the capacity of market players to secure consistent revenue, as high unit costs and technical obstacles obstruct mass adoption. The difficulty in attaining commercial viability is reflected in recent industry metrics; the Quantum Economic Development Consortium reported that in 2024, 35% of firms in the quantum sensing space generated no sales revenue from these specific technologies. This figure highlights the considerable disparity between technological potential and sustainable commercialization, indicating that despite high precision capabilities, the challenge of manufacturing affordable, market-ready solutions remains a critical barrier to growth.

Market Trends

The market is being fundamentally reshaped by the shift from laboratory prototypes to ruggedized, field-deployable sensors, spurred by the urgent need for robust positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems. Manufacturers are effectively miniaturizing inertial sensors and atomic clocks into compact units that are shock-resistant and operate reliably on mobile platforms, eliminating the need for optical tables or complex cryogenic setups. This progression toward operational readiness is demonstrated by significant contract volumes and commercial consolidation for hardware suited to GPS-denied environments; for example, IonQ announced in September 2025 that its acquisition target, Vector Atomic, had obtained over $200 million in government contracts to supply these advanced solutions, underscoring the scale of this technological maturation.

At the same time, the incorporation of artificial intelligence for signal noise cancellation is becoming a vital trend, enhancing the commercial feasibility of quantum sensing via software-defined performance. AI algorithms are increasingly utilized to separate faint quantum signals from environmental noise, effectively substituting heavy magnetic shielding with sophisticated error correction to facilitate high-sensitivity detection in dynamic settings. This fusion of sensing hardware and large quantitative models is drawing substantial investment to expand dual-use applications in healthcare, navigation, and defense; notably, SandboxAQ raised $150 million in April 2025 to further its AI-driven models for processing quantum sensor data, signaling a market shift toward software-enhanced sensing capabilities.

Key Players Profiled in the Quantum Sensors Market

• AOSense, Inc.
• Rigetti Computing
• Qubitekk
• D-Wave Systems Inc.
• ID Quantique
• Cold Quanta
• Toshiba Corporation
• Q-CTRL
• L3Harris Technologies
• Microsemi Corporation

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Quantum Sensors Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Quantum Sensors Market, by Product:

• Atomic Clocks
• Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
• Gravity Sensors
• Magnetic Sensors
• Quantum Sensors

Quantum Sensors Market, by Verticals:

• Oil & Gas
• Military & Defense
• Automotive
• Healthcare
• Agriculture

Quantum Sensors Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Quantum Sensors Market.

Available Customization

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• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

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