By Luke Kawa
Publication Date: 2026-02-17 21:42:00
Matt Kinsella is channeling his inner Kobe Bryant.
Fresh off a double-digit gain in Infleqtion’s first day of trading, the message from the CEO of the newest public quantum computing company is simple: job’s not finished.
“Today is in no way, shape, or form a finish line,” he told us. “Today is a refueling; today is a turbocharging of our batteries. Now our tank is full and the real mission begins, and that is to bring quantum from the research world into commercialization.”
Infleqtion, which began trading following the completion of its SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp X, makes quantum sensors used in clocks and antennas in addition to computers. Unlike publicly traded peers, the firm utilizes neutral atom technology.
Its official entry into the market, and the flood of investor funds into the shares, seemingly came at the expense of other pure-play companies like D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and IonQ, all of which finished lower on the day.
Infleqtion is the first quantum company to come to market this year, but it probably won’t be the last. Xanadu Quantum Technologies and Quantinuum are both expected to be publicly traded by the end of this quarter and the first half of the year, respectively.
Kinsella, when asked how Infleqtion would stand out, told us:
“In terms of differentiation, I truly believe Infleqtion has a very differentiated strategy that public investors will appreciate and that is following in the footsteps of Nvidia. It’s taking…