Ilyas Khan KSG (born 1962) is a British technologist and businessman. He is the founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing.

Early life

Ilyas Tariq Khan was raised in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

(

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

). His grandparents emigrated to Britain in the 1930s. His early schooling was in the old Lancashire Pennine mill towns of

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,9 ...

and then

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

. When Khan was at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

’s

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

, he stayed at

Netherhall House Netherhall House is a catered residential college for men, situated in Hampstead, London, England. It is less than a five-minute walk from Finchley Road tube station. Netherhall House was founded in 1952, in 1966 the 'old wing' was built and o ...

, an

Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...

student hall of residence. Although he was born a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

whilst at Netherhall House he became interested in

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and especially the work of 20th century theologian

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (; 12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. With Joseph Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac, he founded the th ...

and of

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

Business and academic career

Khan is a merchant banker by training and started his career at the London firm of J. Henry Schroder Wagg & Co. Ltd. He was also the owner of the English football team

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

and the founder and publisher of the Asia Literary Review. Khan remains the non executive senior partner of Stanhill Capital Partners, a merchant banking business with a focus on natural resources which he founded in 1998, during the 20 years (1989–2009) he spent living and working in Hong Kong. He was also one of the founding directors of Australia-based White Energy Company. Khan has published on the subject of Quantum Information Processing, and in 2015 he founded Cambridge Quantum Computing, which builds tools for the commercialisation of quantum technologies with a focus on quantum software and quantum cybersecurity. In December 2021 Cambridge Quantum Computing merged with

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

Quantum Solutions to form Quantinuum one of the world’s leading quantum computing companies, and Khan remained as CEO. Khan is the largest shareholder after Honeywell. In 2023 Khan became Vice-Chairman and Chief Product Officer of Quantinuum. He is a Fellow of

St Edmund's College, Cambridge St Edmund's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, it is the second-oldest of the three Cambridge colleges oriented to mature students, which accept ...

and is also a fellow of the

Judge Business School Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school. The School is a department of the u ...

, where he is the "Leader in Residence". His special interests include philanthropy and

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

, and he is a member of the British Wittgenstein Society. Khan has lectured and published papers on

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

, among other subjects.

Philanthropy

Between 2015–2018 Khan served as chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation, which was established on the initiative of Professor

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

to further the study of Cosmology, Astrophysics and Fundamental Particle Physics and to facilitate research into Motor Neuron Disease / Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (MND/ALS). Khan served two terms as the chairman of the prominent British charity

Leonard Cheshire Disability Leonard Cheshire is a major health and welfare charity working in the United Kingdom and running development projects around the world. It was founded in 1948 by Royal Air Force officer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC. Leonard Cheshire's a ...

(LCD) — the largest organization of its kind in the world, with a presence in over 50 countries. Khan is the chairman of

Topos Institute In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally, on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a notion ...

, a non-profit research institute devoted to shaping technology for public benefit by advancing sciences of connection and integration. Khan is a patron of the

Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst The Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst is a charitable trust that has as its mission the provision of access to, and learning around, Christian artefacts held at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England. Its royal patrons are Lord Nicholas ...

, which aims to make the collections and resources at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College or Stonyhurst is a co-educational Catholic Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing education for boarding school, boarding and day school, day pupils, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition. It is ...

more widely accessible. The project has the support of Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, Lord Guthrie, and Lord

David Alton David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, (born 15 March 1951) is a British-Irish politician, formerly a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party and later Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat who has sat as ...

Catholicism

In September 2015

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

elevated Khan to a Knight of the

Order of St Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See. The honor is b ...

for his contribution to the Church and community. In 2015 Khan ranked 21st in

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

's list of Britain's most influential lay Catholics. Khan is listed in the

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...

'Catholics of Today' supplements most recently in 2022, profiling leading Catholics in a wide range of spheres and industries.

Footnotes

External links

Leonard Cheshire Disability

National Catholic Register

Catholic News profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ilyas 1962 births Living people Alumni of SOAS University of London English former Muslims English Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam Knights of St. Gregory the Great People from Lancashire (before 1974) Businesspeople from Lancashire Businesspeople awarded knighthoods