New firm Quantinuum created by Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell to tackle scientific and cyber security challenges

Commercial competition in quantum computing is hotting up

UK quantum computing software firm Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell Quantum Solutions, a division of the US-based industrial hardware giant, have combined to form a new company Quantinuum.

Cambridge Quantum, founded in 2014, produces operating systems, security software and other applications designed for quantum computers. Honeywell Quantum Solutions manufactures quantum computing hardware based on trapped-ion technologies, in which charged particles are held in a stable state using magnetic fields with quantum coupling being induced using lasers.

The new firm, Quantinuum, is set to release a new cyber security product in December, according to a statement. In 2022 it plans to release software products to address complex problems in the fields of pharmaceuticals, material science and chemistry, which are areas on which Cambridge Quantum has focused.

There will also be upgrades to Honeywell's System Model H1 hardware; however, the company says it will be "entirely platform-agnostic" in its choice of hardware.

Plans for the merger were first announced in June and the legal necessities are now in place. The new company has offices in the UK, US, Japan and Germany and will launch with almost 400 staff.

Honeywell Quantum Solutions split from its parent company this year in order to merge with Cambridge Quantum. Honeywell is the largest stakeholder in Quantinuum, holding an 54 per cent of the shares as well as an additional $300 million capital investment. Cambridge Quantum will retain its identity.

"I am thrilled to help lead our new company, which will positively change the world through the application of quantum computing," said Tony Uttley, president and COO of Quantinuum. "Our scientists continue to work hard to develop the best quantum software and hardware technologies available and I am excited to be able to offer these to customers on an ongoing basis."

Cambridge Quantum founder and now CEO of Quantinuum, Ilyas Khan, said: "We are science led and enterprise driven, and our scale and global presence in this most critical of technologies will provide leadership in each of the key areas that constitute the ‘must haves' for quantum computing to deliver real-world solutions to all our customers and partners."

The move comes at a time of increased interest in the possibilities of quantum computing. This month, an MIT-based startup called QuEra Computing claimed it had produced a 256-qubit device, which followed an announcement a week before by IBM saying that it had achieved 127 qubits - more than double the record set by Google in 2019. That breakthrough came with a claim of being the first to achieve quantum supremacy, meaning that Google's device succeeded in performing a task that a classical computer could not conceivably do.

However, the number of qubits that can be brought to bear is only one part of the equation. More important is the ability to apply the technology to multiple real-world problems, and that's where the commercial competition is hotting up.