Quantinuum IPO: Quantum computing firm raises $1.68 billion, opens trading at $68
Quantinuum opened trading at $68 per share on the Nasdaq on Thursday, after upsizing its initial offering.
The company raised $1.68 billion in an upsized IPO after it priced at $60 per share, above of its earlier range of $53 to $55 per share. At the first trade price, Quantinuum has a market cap of about $17.6 billion.
The firm was founded in 2021 out of a merger of Honeywell 's quantum computing division and UK-based Cambridge Quantum. The company describes itself as a "full-stack quantum computing platform," spanning both hardware and software.
In its S-1 filing, which came out last month, Quantinuum said its customers span the pharmaceutical, materials science, finance, government and industrial markets, including JPMorgan Chase and Amgen .
"We have customers today that are using our commercially available hardware and software, our full stack, to get started with their quantum journey," Quantinuum CEO Rajeeb Hazra said in a Thursday interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Quantum computing has captured the attention of scientists and researchers for decades, but it largely remains an experimental technology. The technology uses the principles of quantum mechanics to solve complex tasks far beyond the abilities of traditional computers.
Hazra said quantum adoption is still in the early stages, but that the "need for these kinds of computing resources is absolutely a given."
The quantum industry got an endorsement from the Trump administration last month.
The Department of Commerce announced it signed preliminary agreements to provide $2 billion in funding and take equity stakes in nine companies linked to the "quantum ecosystem," including Quantinuum, which will receive $100 million. The funding for the deals comes from the 2022 Chips and Science Act.
"It's a great validation of quantum, of Quantinuum, as a strategic asset for the U.S. quantum industry and we're very thankful that we have this ability now to be able to shoulder this responsibility, to take trapped ion-based computing forward," Hazra said.
Quantinuum said in its prospectus that revenue decreased 73% to $5.24 million in the first quarter from $19.1 million a year earlier. The company recorded a net loss in the latest quarter of $136.5 million after losing $30.5 million during the same period one year ago.
Honeywell, which is expected to retain a majority stake following the offering, will continue to be a strategic customer and partner, the prospectus states.
Big tech has also ramped up bets on quantum computing in recent years. Google , Microsoft , Amazon and IBM have shelled out millions on the technology, which will be capable of resolving complex problems regular computers can't, including drug discovery.
This week, Microsoft unveiled a new quantum chip it claims is a thousand times better than previous iterations and could help the company create a scalable quantum computer by 2029.
Excitement toward the new tech has driven up shares of quantum computing stocks in recent years, but the sector is also susceptible to dramatic swings on slivers of news.
Rigetti Computing shares have more than doubled year over year, while IonQ and D-Wave are up at least 50% each. The sector slumped during the first quarter's tech selloff.
Infleqtion , which went public in February through a special purpose acquisition merger, is up about 25% from its debut price.
Quantinuum's debut comes as the IPO market continues to heat up.
Shares of AI chipmaker Cerebras popped almost 70% in their debut last month. Investors are closely watching Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq on June 12. Anthropic confidentially filed its IPO prospectus on Monday, and OpenAI is preparing to file its confidential IPO prospectus in the coming weeks.
WATCH: An inside look at Microsoft's new Quantum computing chip
