Cambridge Quantum (CQ) is an independent

quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Thou ...

company, based in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Founded in 2014, CQ builds tools for the commercialization of quantum technologies with a focus on quantum software and quantum cybersecurity. CQ has developed an architecture agnostic quantum software development platform, TKET, around which the company has built enterprise applications for

quantum cryptography Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution which offers an information-theoretically secure solutio ...

quantum chemistry Quantum chemistry, also called molecular quantum mechanics, is a branch of physical chemistry focused on the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems, particularly towards the quantum-mechanical calculation of electronic contribution ...

quantum machine learning Quantum machine learning is the integration of quantum algorithms within machine learning programs. The most common use of the term refers to machine learning algorithms for the analysis of classical data executed on a quantum computer, i.e. quan ...

and

Quantum artificial intelligence Quantum machine learning is the integration of quantum algorithms within machine learning programs. The most common use of the term refers to machine learning algorithms for the analysis of classical data executed on a quantum computer, i.e. quan ...

History

CQ was established in 2014, and conceived through the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

's “Accelerate Cambridge” program. Béla Bollobás, Imre Leader,

Fernando Brandão Fernando Brandão (born 22 January 1983, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) is a Brazilian physicist and computer scientist working on quantum information and quantum computation. He is currently the Bren Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California I ...

and Simone Severini were its first scientific advisors. In September 2020, CQ announced the launch of the first cloud-based Quantum Random Number Generation Service with integrated verification for the user. The application generates true maximal randomness on an IBM Quantum Computer. In December 2020, CQ completed a $45 million financing from investors including Honeywell Ventures, IBM Ventures, JSR Corporation, Serendipity Capital, Alvarium Investments, and Talipot Holdings. This is the largest private investment ever announced for a quantum software company. In January 2021, CQ appointed Prof Bob Coecke as its Chief Scientist, and opened an Oxford campus. Sifted, backed by

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

, placed CQ on its list of European Startups to Watch in 2021. In June 2021, CQ announced its combination with Honeywell Quantum Solutions. The combined group announced their formal merger and launch as a new organization named "Quantinuum" in December 2021.

Technology

CQ has divisions dedicated to four core domains: quantum compiler (TKET), quantum cybersecurity (Quantum origin), quantum chemistry (EUMEN), quantum machine learning, .

Quantum software development platform – TKET

TKET is an architecture agnostic quantum software development platform that enables quantum software developers to optimize large circuits for general purpose quantum algorithms. TKET's routing and scheduling protocol translates machine independent algorithms into executable circuits by optimizing for physical qubit layout while reducing the number of required operations. TKET's Python module
pytket
allows any Python user with access to a quantum computer to deploy the tket SDK in any context, including commercially.

Quantum cybersecurity - Quantum Origin

CQ has launched the first cloud-based quantum random number generation (QRNG) service with integrated verification for the user. The application developed by CQ generates true maximal randomness (or entropy) implemented on an IBM quantum computer that can be verified and thus certified as truly quantum – and therefore truly and maximally random – for the first time. This cannot be done on a classical computer.

Quantum chemistry – EUMEN

CQ has developed EUMEN, an enterprise-grade quantum chemistry platform to perform computational chemistry calculations on current quantum hardware machines. EUMEN enables the design of pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals, performance materials and agrochemicals.

Quantum machine learning

CQ has efforts in QML with a focus on quantum circuit learning on near-term noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. The company has commercial work in deploying deep learning for time-series modeling and decision-making and specializes in quantum enhanced solutions for machine learning and optimization problems.

Quantum NLP

In 2020, CQ performed quantum natural language processing (NLP) on IBM hardware. This was the first time NLP has been performed on quantum hardware.

Ownership

Quantinuum is not listed on any stock exchange and is privately held. 54% of the company is owned by

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

, and

Ilyas Khan Ilyas Khan Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG (born 1962) is a British technologist and businessman. He is the founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing. Early life Ilyas Tariq Khan was raised in Lancashire (North West England). His grandparents e ...

, the founder of Cambridge Quantum and CEO of Quantinuum, is the next largest shareholder.

Locations

CQ is headquartered in

, but has offices in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

( Victoria and

St. James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the d ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

Chessington Chessington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames within Greater London. Historically part of Surrey, today it is the largest salient of Greater London into that county. At the 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. Th ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Washington, D.C. and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

External links

Official website

References

{{reflist Quantum programming Quantum information science Companies based in Cambridge Technology companies established in 2014 Privately held companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2014 Companies involved in quantum computing