A merger between UK company Cambridge Quantum Computing and Honeywell Quantum Solutions in the US is to create the world’s leading quantum computing company.
CQ is a global leader in quantum software and algorithms while HQS, a Honeywell business unit, is the maker of the highest-performing quantum computer currently available.
Honeywell has been an investor in and commercial partner with Cambridge Quantum since 2019.
The new company, which will be formally named in due course, will have a long-term agreement with Honeywell to help manufacture the critical ion traps needed to power the quantum hardware. Honeywell will invest around £200m in the new company.
The new company is well-positioned to lead the quantum computing industry by offering advanced, fully integrated hardware and software solutions at an unprecedented pace, scale and level of performance to large high-growth markets worldwide.
The new company’s combined expertise will deliver solutions to customers globally as well as spur advances that will accelerate the adoption and impact of quantum technology worldwide.
“Joining together into an exciting newly combined enterprise, HQS and CQ will become a global powerhouse that will create and commercialize quantum solutions that address some of humanity’s greatest challenges, while driving the development of what will become a $1 trillion industry,” said Ilyas Khan, founder of CQ.
“I am excited to lead a company that has the best people and technologies in the quantum computing industry and the best and boldest clients. Together we will lead the industry as it grows and matures, and create tangible, credible, provable and science-led advances.”
Honeywell’s Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk noted: “The new company will have the best talent in the industry, the world’s highest performing quantum computer, the first and most advanced quantum operating system, and comprehensive, hardware-agnostic software that will drive the future of the quantum computing industry.
“The new company will be extremely well positioned to create value in the near-term within the quantum computing industry by offering the critical global infrastructure needed to support the sector’s explosive growth.”