This week’s quantum computing news features a player that may be surprising to some who have but haven’t been covering this industry closely.
It seems that Honeywell, a company consumers know best as an HVAC builder, has pulled ahead of IBM in the quantum computing space, at least temporarily.
Stephen Shankland at CNET reports that Honeywell’s HO system is now rated higher than IBM’s formerly front-running quantum computing rig.
“Decades ago, Honeywell was a top maker of massive mainframes, but it sold the business and left the computing industry to other players,” Shankland writes, explaining Honeywell’s pivot and how it positioned the firm to compete. “In recent years, it quietly assembled a team of 120 researchers in Colorado and Minnesota and used its expertise in materials science and industrial operations to tackle quantum computing.”
The word “quietly” seems notable here – although IBM has been trumpeting its quantum work and consolidating its already familiar brand with quantum tech, Honeywell has been pretty much mum.
As for the actual criteria for ranking quantum computing systems, Shankland reveals that evaluators assess the number of qubits a system has, and also, what it can do with those qubits.
To back up a bit, the qubit as a unit of computing illustrates how quantum computing works.
Replacing the traditional system of binary data and processing, the qubit adds an uncertainty principle that widens the computing space through elements like superpositioning and entanglement.
That has led scientists to ponder the kinds of quantum supremacy, or in other words, the vast efficiency of quantum computing systems in solving complex problems such as chemical modeling or genetic work.
In a press statement, Honeywell quantum division president Tony Uttley provides a window into how Honeywell is exploring ongoing innovation in quantum by building in future space for additional qubits.
“Think of an auditorium with a lot of seats,” Uttley says. “We’ve built the infrastructure to be an auditorium. We’re filling it a few seats at a time.”
Although quantum computing may seem to some investors like a gee-whiz flash-bang technology whose time is far into the future, quantum will begin to move markets as the technology moves incrementally toward maturity. It’s a good idea to at least know the major players, and watch their stock prices, if you have relevant holdings or plan to add quantum related items to your portfolio.