IonQ to buy Oxford Ionics, NASA science to be ripped in half, Bhashini for railways, and Vecmocon’s funding

India Tech Report: Daily Morning Brief

US scientists alarmed as Trump’s proposed budget slashes NASA science funding by half

US scientists have condemned President Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which seeks to cut NASA’s science funding by 47 percent and reduce its workforce by a third. The plan would cancel 41 missions, including the Mars Sample Return and OSIRIS-APEX, and halt collaborations like the Rosalind Franklin rover.

Key Earth and astrophysics projects would also be axed, risking $12 billion in taxpayer investment, in operating missions alone, and undermining climate research. While the proposal faces bipartisan opposition in the US Congress, scientists warn that even temporary enactment could cause lasting damage to US space science and international partnerships.

IonQ to acquire Oxford Ionics in $1.08 billion deal to boost quantum capabilities

IonQ, a leading US quantum computing company, yesterday announced an agreement to acquire UK-based Oxford Ionics for $1.08 billion, mostly in stock. The deal aims to combine IonQ’s quantum hardware and software expertise with Oxford Ionics’ quantum chip technology, accelerating advances in the field. The transaction, which includes $10 million in cash, is expected to close in 2025 pending regulatory approvals.

Founded in 2015 by physicists Christopher Monroe and Jungsang Kim, IonQ became the first pure-play quantum computing company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2021. The company is credited with advancing the use of trapped-ion technology, which is said to offer higher stability of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, and coherence, which refers to the ability of a quantum system, such as a qubit, to maintain a well-defined phase relationship between its different states.

Bhashini to build AI-powered multilingual services for Indian Railways

In some news on India’s population-scale AI efforts, the Digital India Bhashini Division and Centre for Railway Information Systems have signed an MoU to integrate advanced multilingual AI solutions into Indian Railways’ digital platforms, the ministry of electronics and IT said in a statement yesterday.

Using Bhashini’s technology stack — including speech recognition, translation, and text-to-speech — railway services such as the National Train Enquiry System and RailMadad will become accessible in 22 Indian languages.

The partnership aims to improve accessibility, efficiency, and transparency for millions of passengers, with plans to roll out chatbots, voice assistants, and multilingual interfaces across web, mobile, kiosks, and call centers. Pilot deployments and technical workshops will begin in the coming months.

Vecmocon, EV tech startup, raises $18 million from EIF, Aavishkaar, BII

Okay, some news from the world of EVs in India. Vecmocon Technologies, an EV components startup in New Delhi, has secured $18 million in Series A funding led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund, with participation from Aavishkaar Capital, British International Investment, and existing investor Blume Ventures.

Vecmocon develops advanced battery management and vehicle intelligence systems for electric vehicles, with its technology already equipping some 100,000 EVs in India, the company said in a press release. It was founded in 2016 by Peeyush Asati, Adarshkumar Balaraman, and Shivam Wankhede, and incubated at IIT Delhi.

The new investment will help the entrepreneurs fund market expansion and R&D.

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