The Quantum computing world is now dominated by a new competitor vying for the business. Quantum was launched on the market today as the result of a merger of Cambridge Quantum, a British company that is a pioneer in quantum-based operating systems and software in addition to Honeywell Quantum Solutions (HQS) that has been created from the U.S. its parent organization Honeywell and is a specialist in the development of quantum computers.
Honeywell will control 54 percent of Quantinuum while the remaining 54% is owned by the investors of Cambridge Quantum. Additionally, Honeywell, the U.S. conglomerate, is injecting $270 million into the business through convertible notes, and Quantinuum claims to have secured additional (undisclosed) funds as well. Quantum plans to raise further funds and hopes to follow the path of IonQ, the other quantum computing firm, which The company went public earlier in the year. and has a current value of $4.5 billion.”We expect that within the next 12 months we will be a publicly listed company,” claims Tony Uttley, who previously was the head of HQS but is the current COO and president of Quantinuum. Uttley states that Quantinuum is currently looking at ways to raise funds and include listing through a SPAC.
The company’s chief executive officer and CEO will be Ilyas Khan, the creator of Cambridge Quantum. It will be headquartered in the U.K. headquarters in Cambridge and a U.S. one located in Broomfield, Colorado. The Broomfield and Broomfield areas will house more than 400 employees, including 300 engineers and scientists, providing Quantinuum an advantage of having one of the most significant quantum-related workforces around the globe when experts in the field are scarce.
Quantum computing technology, which claims to create computers that can solve issues beyond the capabilities of the most powerful supercomputers of the past, are still in their early stages. Still, it’s already drawing a lot of interest and investments. Quantum will become part of a competitive field that includes giants like IBM, Intel, and Google and other notable companies such as IonQ and Rigetti Computing. Bob Sorensen of Hyperion Research describes the contest as watching an athletic race. “You’re viewing a horde of runners in the beginning mile. There’s a lot to go.”
One-stop quantum shop
Quantum is hoping to stand out from the group by offering a full-stack solution that includes everything from high-performance hardware to operating systems and quantum algorithms. HQS has developed quantum computers in terms of hardware based on ion-trap technology that uses lasers to manipulate atomic particles in a vacuum. In tests, the hardware has produced the highest ever reported Quantum volume that is a method to test the capabilities of a quantum computer.
In terms of software, Cambridge Quantum brings with TKET, an open-source software development tool for optimizing quantum circuits with several hundred thousand users, along with the ability to develop algorithms specifically designed for specific application areas like quantum security and chemistry. While Quantum is looking to optimize the HQS hardware it inherited, the software will remain hardware-agnostic. it was creating applications that run on any quantum computing devices, not only those that utilize the ion-trap technique. “One of the things that clients need not to be locked into a machine that might be a winner today but may not be a winner tomorrow,” Khan explains. Khan.
This strategy will let Quantinuum make bets on its future, but the capability to build hardware and software together could be vital to its success. “The idea of co-design…has become increasingly popular in quantum computing,” states Nick Farina, the CEO of EeroQ Quantum Hardware, which also makes quantum machines. “It may offer a faster path to useful applications, and at the very least, it offers a deep understanding of exactly what the hardware requirements will be for a given [quantum] algorithm.”
Transatlantic links
This could be one of the reasons each of the U.K. and U.S. governments have approved the arrangement revealed on June 1st June by Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum. Khan claims that the timing of the partnership was a coincidence because it was a part of efforts to strengthen cooperation in quantum technology between both countries which earlier this month reached an agreement that will let them to share more research and encourage companies focused on quantum technology across the Atlantic to cooperate.
We anticipate that within twelve months, we will be a publicly-traded company.
Other companies operating in quantum technology have created unique software and hardware operations. Hyperion’s Sorensen mentions the case of IBM, who recently announced the world’s most powerful quantum computing system. New quantum processor and developed a hugely well-known set of open-source tools for developers dubbed Qiskit. Quantum needs to start from scratch to stay up to speed in its quantum race. Developing applications that demonstrate that the technology’s potential is not just scientific gimmicks will be crucial. As per Khan, Quantinuum will launch its first integrated offering, specifically focused on quantum cybersecurity, in the coming month and will launch a second offering for quantum-based chemistry by 2022.
The market will react to these, and other software developed by rival companies will determine whether the current flurry of investments in quantum companies remains. “This is important,” the EeroQ’s Farina, “because in quantum computing, the big question, and arguably the only question, is when we will have commercial value.”
