Quantinuum
Tony Uttley is convinced that quantum computing will one day become just as prevalent as the smartphones we all carry in our pockets. “As a consumer, you likely won’t even know that your devices are using a quantum computer,” says Uttley, a longtime Honeywell exec who now serves as president and chief operating officer of quantum computing firm Quantinuum. Launched in late 2021, Quantinuum is actually the result of a merger between Honeywell’s quantum division and United Kingdom-based Cambridge Quantum Computing. Quantum computers use “qubits,” which enable them to process data for certain kinds of problems at speeds millions of times quicker than a standard binary-based computer. But Uttley concedes we’re still years away from widespread consumer adoption of the technology. For now, his company focuses on three lines of business, primarily catering to large-scale organizations: cybersecurity, quantum chemistry, and quantum-based artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity looks to be among the most promising in the near future. “Some properties of quantum computers lend themselves incredibly well to generating unpredictable numbers, true randomness,” says Uttley, whose resume also includes a 10-year stint at NASA. “If you’re making encryption keys, you want to make them completely unpredictable so an adversary can’t crack it.” Quantinuum is technically headquartered in the U.K. and Colorado, but the firm maintains a presence in the Twin Cities, where it employs about 30. The Minnesota employees work at an office in Golden Valley and an existing Honeywell facility in Plymouth. Quantinuum is expanding to Brooklyn Park, too. Despite the technology’s name, the current infrastructure that powers quantum computing requires lots of space, much like the earliest computers. Uttley jokes, “Unfortunately, we can’t build quantum computers in people’s houses.”
Insight
Started in 1885, Honeywell was based in Minneapolis until its 1999 acquisition by AlliedSignal, which kept the name but moved headquarters to New Jersey.
