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IBM Backs Quantinuum, Honeywell-Cambridge Quantum Venture
IBM has increased its investment in Quantinuum, a joint venture between Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum, to expand the IBM Quantum Hub.
The deal aims to enable the companies to grow their quantum ecosystem and offer clients improved access to IBM’s quantum computing systems. The value of the deal, facilitated by IBM Ventures, was not disclosed.
Quantinuum says the agreement will enable its customers to access IBM’s 127-qubit Eagle processor, unveiled in November 2021 and the company’s first to break the 100-qubit barrier.
A qubit is the basic unit of quantum information, analogous to a bit in classic computing.
While it is difficult to directly compare processing power between technologies based on qubits alone because of the different ways in which they are designed, IBM more than doubled the number in a processor when it introduced Eagle in November 2021.
The partnership will also offer access to IBM’s quantum expertise and the Qiskit open-source software development kit.
Qiskit enables developers to create programs using the Python programming language and run them on quantum computers or simulators from a local computer.
“We are excited to expand access to IBM Quantum hardware and Qiskit, providing solutions developed for state-of-the-art quantum computing hardware,” said Quantinuum CEO Ilyas Khan. “We continue to utilize a broad range of quantum processors including IBM, given their position as a leader in superconducting quantum computers, a critical and important part of the growth in the capabilities of quantum computers.
“IBM has been a great advocate for the creation of a growing quantum ecosystem as well as an early investor in Cambridge Quantum and now Quantinuum. We look forward to opening up a wide range of possibilities to further advance quantum computing industry applications.”
“The agreement expands the prior arrangement that we had with IBM and it provides our clients with much better access to IBM systems,” Waseem Shiraz, Quantinuum investment relations spokesperson told Quantum Business.
“That means our clients can then utilize a broad range of quantum processors, which opens up many more possibilities in terms of advancing computing applications,” Shiraz said.
Quantinuum’s quantum services clients include healthcare, life sciences, biotechnology, chemistry, logistics, manufacturing, finance, defense and economic sectors.
