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Saudi Aramco and Quantinuum Begin Quantum Knowledge Exchange

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September 3, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

On August 31, 2026, Quantinuum and Aramco formalized a collaboration in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding to explore applications of quantum computing within the energy sector, the company says. The agreement prioritizes preparing for research around fault-tolerant quantum computing, signaling Aramco’s focus on future quantum system capabilities rather than solely current technology.

“Organizations that expect to benefit from quantum computing need to begin developing their expertise, algorithms and workflows today,” said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President and CEO of Quantinuum, as the companies begin a knowledge exchange intended to address complex challenges in energy and digital transformation.

Quantinuum and Aramco Initiate Industrial Quantum Computing Knowledge Exchange

Sami Al Ajmi, Senior Vice President of Digital & Information Technology at Aramco, and Dr. Hazra signed the non-binding agreement, which prioritizes preliminary technical onboarding and knowledge exchange, diverging from typical announcements focused on near-term application development. Aramco intends to identify challenges suited to quantum computing research, specifically targeting complex problems within energy and digital transformation initiatives.

This approach suggests a long-term vision for integrating future quantum systems into its operations and benchmarking various quantum computing modalities, complementing Aramco’s existing efforts to establish leadership in applying advanced quantum technologies to the energy industry and reinforcing its digital transformation goals.

Hazra stated that the memorandum of understanding creates a framework for Quantinuum and Aramco to exchange expertise, identify important industrial challenges, and prepare for a deeper research collaboration. Quantinuum’s platform, built on the QCCD architecture and commercially deployed trapped-ion systems, offers high accuracy levels based on two-qubit gate fidelity, and the company has active engagements with leaders in multiple sectors.

By combining Aramco’s scientific and engineering knowledge with Quantinuum’s capabilities, the companies aim to establish a strong foundation for research across future generations of quantum computing, positioning Aramco for potential advancements in energy and related fields.

Organizations that expect to benefit from quantum computing need to begin developing their expertise, algorithms and workflows today.

Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President and CEO of Quantinuum
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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