A drab, vinyl-floored, windowless office building just north of Denver houses one of the wonders of the computer industry. It's home to several wonders, actually: a data center where two commercial-quantum computers are operating for paying customers including JPMorgan, and a third prototype under construction.
Quantum computers are wondrous because they operate on quantum mechanics: the tiniest parts of the universe where the rules of physics as we think we know them don't always apply. Instead of transistors that calculate information by switching on and off, quantum computers use qubits, which can switch to "on," "off," or "both," meaning some state in between.
Proponents say these computers are uniquely able to solve complex problems, such as discovering new materials or determining how to improve supply chains.
Quantinuum, which spun out of the defense contractor giant Honeywell in 2021 after Honeywell acquired the UK quantum company Cambridge Quantum, built the computer I saw. I visited as part of an invitational media-and-analysts' day held a few days before Quantinuum officially launched H2, its 32-qubit, second-generation quantum computer on Tuesday.
Quantinuum claims the H2 is the most precise quantum computer ever built — and it's published the results of numerous benchmarks tests it conducted to back its bravado.
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