Honeywell Quantum Solutions (HQS), the quantum computing division of Honeywell, and software provider Cambridge Quantum announced that they completed the business combination they announced last June, resulting in a new firm, Quantinuum, in which Honeywell owns a 54% stake.
The news, announced Tuesday, comes at the conclusion of regulatory approvals, the companies said. It has been roughly six months since Honeywell said it would combine HQS with U.K.-based Cambridge Quantum, a U.K.-based start-up it first invested in back in 2019. to create a “full-stack” quantum computing company.
To start Quantinuum off on the right foot. Honeywell also is investing an initial $270 million to $300 million in the new entity. Honeywell and Quantinuum have entered into a long-term agreement for Honeywell to help manufacture the critical ion traps needed to power Quantinuum's trapped-ion quantum hardware. Honeywell also said its other businesses “will continue to serve as a proving ground for the new company's quantum offerings,” a statement said.
Honeywell has been targeting the quantum computing sector for at least three years, though did not garner as many headlines for its work as the likes of IBM. Cambridge has been working in the important arena of quantum software, developing an operating system and related software that will be needed to program increasingly powerful quantum computing hardware and develop applications for industry-specific use cases.
Darius Adamczyk, chairman and chief executive officer of Honeywell, and chairman of Quantinuum, said in the statement, "Quantinuum customers will now have access to the world's first quantum operating system, applications, and hardware-agnostic software, all of which will be used to address extremely challenging business needs with which conventional computing systems struggle. The combination of the quantum industry's top talent, growing customer base, and most comprehensive technology will position Quantinuum extremely well for future growth."
The new company’s hardware-agnostic products will support Honeywell’s own system Model H1 quantum hardware processor, as well as IBM's suite of quantum computers. Some of these product are targeting areas such as cyber security and encryption, drug discovery and delivery, material science, finance, natural language processing and optimization across major industrial markets.
Quantinuum starts life with a staff of nearly 400, more than 300 of whom are engineers and scientists. It has offices in the U.S., United Kingdom, Japan and Germany, and is an IBM Quantum Hub.
There is no change to Honeywell's financial outlook as a result of the transaction, according to the statement.