BTQ Technologies Corp., a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission-critical networks, announced the appointment of Sean Hackett and Zach Belateche—the co-founders of Radical Semiconductor—as advisors to the company. Additionally, Anne Reinders has been appointed as Head of Cryptography.
These appointments follow BTQ’s acquisition of Radical Semiconductor, reinforcing its leadership in post-quantum technology and accelerating its commercialization roadmap.
Pioneers in Cryptographic Innovation
- Zach Belateche: An expert in high-performance and secure accelerator architectures, Zach brings a wealth of experience in designing innovative hardware solutions. He co-founded Radical Semiconductor and led the development of its groundbreaking processing-in-memory technology, which achieved state-of-the-art efficiency for post-quantum cryptography on NIST-standard algorithms. Currently leading the silicon team at Normal Computing, he specializes in low-power hardware for probabilistic machine learning. Zach’s career also includes contributions to silicon architectures for artificial intelligence at SambaNova Systems and research on emerging ferroelectric memory technologies at Stanford University and GlobalFoundries. He holds both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
- Sean Hackett: As the co-founder and former CEO of Radical Semiconductor, Sean has a proven track record of transforming emerging semiconductor technologies into market-ready products. Under his leadership, Radical delivered cutting-edge cryptographic solutions tailored to the defense, automotive, and FinTech sectors. With a strong background in finance and product development, Sean specializes in bridging the gap between laboratory innovation and commercial applications. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Stanford University.
- Anne Reinders: A cryptographic acceleration specialist with over a decade of experience, Anne has a distinguished career in advancing hardware and software for secure systems. At Radical Semiconductor, she played a key role in enhancing the company’s processing-in-memory technology, optimizing NIST-standard post-quantum cryptography algorithms, and achieving state-of-the-art cryptographic hash throughput on embedded devices. Anne previously worked on high-performance homomorphic encryption schemes at Intel and Cornami, improving the hardware performance of leading encryption algorithms like BGV, BFV, and CKKS. During her nine years at Intel Labs, she contributed to hardware and software implementations for cryptographic accelerators, including the NIST PQC candidate BIKE and elliptic curve pairing algorithms.
The Importance of Radical Semiconductor to BTQ
BTQ’s acquisition of Radical Semiconductor marks a pivotal step in its mission to deliver scalable, efficient, and secure quantum-era solutions. Radical’s innovative CASH (Cryptographic Accelerator System Hardware) architecture leverages processing-in-memory technology to address the computational demands of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms.
By integrating Radical’s technology, BTQ is positioned to provide next-generation quantum-secure solutions across sectors such as IoT, financial services, blockchain and government infrastructure. The addition of Radical’s founders as advisors ensures BTQ will continue to innovate and lead as global cryptography standards evolve.
Olivier Roussy Newton, CEO of BTQ Technologies, commented: “Bringing Sean, Zach, and Anne on board strengthens our ability to accelerate the commercialization of post-quantum technologies. Their expertise in cryptographic hardware and software innovation is unmatched and will help us deliver solutions that meet the urgent security needs of the quantum era. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to securing mission-critical networks and building a future-proof quantum-secure infrastructure.”
Anne Reinders, of Radical Semiconductor and Head of Cryptography for BTQ stated: “Quantum computing poses new threats to existing cryptography, and new algorithms offer new avenues for acceleration. The Radical CASH architecture is uniquely well suited to accelerating the new standards for post-quantum cryptography and puts BTQ in an excellent position to deliver high-performance solutions to these emerging needs. I am excited to continue my work on this architecture with the team at BTQ.”
Zach Belateche, Cofounder of Radical Semiconductor and Advisor for BTQ added: “With its network of industry and academic partnerships, BTQ is uniquely positioned to commercialize novel hardware and software for post-quantum cryptography. I’m excited to work alongside Anne, Sean, and the BTQ team to help bring Radical’s ultra-efficient CASH architecture to market to help secure devices, networks, and infrastructure against future quantum threats.