(Bloomberg) — Quantinuum Inc., a quantum computing company backed by Honeywell International Inc., reversed a 19% gain to close just above its debut price after raising $1.68 billion in an upsized US initial public offering.
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Shares of the company, which upsized its offering on growing investor enthusiasm for the emerging technology, opened at $68 each on Thursday, versus the IPO price of $60. The IPO drew demand from investors for more than 20 times the shares available, people familiar with the matter have said.
Following an earlier surge, the stock pared gains and closed at $60.38, giving the company a market value of around $16 billion based on the outstanding shares in its filings.
The Broomfield, Colorado-based company makes powerful quantum computers that solve complex tasks beyond the reach of traditional processors, making them valuable tools for achieving the exponential leaps in computing needed for artificial intelligence.
“We see it as a winner-takes-most market and the winner needs to have what customers want, which is performance, accuracy, scalability and solutions,” said Rajeeb Hazra, Quantinuum’s chief executive officer.
Shares of other quantum computing companies have surged over the last few weeks in a broader market rally led by big technology names also set to benefit from the AI frenzy. D-Wave Quantum Inc. shares have soared more than 90% from the end of March while and Rigetti Computing Inc. stock is up more than 70%. IonQ Inc. stock has gained more than 125% in the same timeframe. International Business Machines Corp. has recently gotten in on the rally, with its shares increasing nearly 40% over the past three weeks.
The sector has garnered support from the Trump administration, which last month announced more than $2 billion in funding for a group of quantum computing firms in the US. Quantinuum is set to receive $100 million, while IBM will get $1 billion, the largest award in the Commerce Department’s package.
In exchange, the US government is set to receive minority, non-controlling stakes in the companies.
Quantinuum is developing platforms for use in fields such as chemistry, machine learning, cybersecurity, finance and drug discovery. It counts companies such as Amgen Inc. and Mitsui & Co. as early users and collaborators, its filings show.
