It's not every day that Apple acquires a Chicago-area tech company, but that's exactly what took place in 2012 when the Silicon Valley giant quietly purchased technology developed by QuesTek, a small Evanston-based computational materials engineering company.
QuesTek designs high-performance alloys for a variety of industries--from aerospace to high-end automotive--and its aluminum alloys piqued Apple's interest. At the time, QuesTek's buyer was described only as an unnamed Silicon Valley company, but multiple sources close to QuesTek say the purchaser was indeed Apple, who used the company's alloys in its Apple Watch and Apple iPhone.
QuesTek's Apple relationship became clear last year after its co-founder Charles Kuehmann, who left QuesTek after the acquisition, was hired by Elon Musk to be the vice president of materials engineering at both Tesla and SpaceX. The announcement came with this detail: Kuehmann had previously worked as Apple's director of product design from 2012 to November 2015. Keuhmann was also named on a 2015 Apple patent application for “aluminum alloys with high strength and cosmetic appeal.”
Public LinkedIn profiles show other QuesTek alums moved to Apple in 2012.
QuesTek, which retained its intellectual property and operates independently today, would not confirm that Apple was the buyer, citing an NDA. In an interview with Chicago Inno, QuestTek co-founder Gregory Olson would only describe the acquirer as a consumer electronics company in the Valley.
But Olson did shed some light on how the company rebuilt itself after the sale, despite losing more than two-thirds of its staff. QuesTek was at 23 employees prior to the acquisition, and has built back up to that number today.
"It was a big challenge to rebuild," Olson said. "But on the other side of it, the visibility we got as a result of that deal really did help with attracting talent."
The company has a who's who of big-name business and government clients, such as SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, NASA and the US Navy. QuesTek's patented steel materials are used in landing gear for Navy and Air Force jets. Its steel is used in several flight-critical components on SpaceX's Falcon rocket program. A QuesTek-designed steel is enabling exploration of Venus on Honeybee Robotics' robotic Venus explorer.
One of QuesTek's first commercial products was a gear steel inside IndyCar driver Michael Andretti's race car.
Government partners are a large part of QuesTek's business, Olson said. The company has raised around $29 million from government-funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.
"Generally (with) commercial contracts, it's not the same budget we can get from federal agencies," he said.
Olson, a Northwestern professor, is a legend in the materials science community. In 2012 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which referred to him as the “father of materials design.” Olson, a graduate from MIT, came to Northwestern in 1988 and was named the first Wilson-Cook Professor of Engineering Design at the McCormick School of Engineering in 1999.
QuesTek plans to add to its roster of enterprise clients, and expand internationally, Olson said. The company just opened an office in Stockholm late last year, and also plans to expand into Japan.
It's clear QuesTek has had no trouble retooling since its big Apple deal. With the technology in place, could another buyer come knocking on QuesTek's door?
"We’re open to an acquisition if it's the right acquisition," Olson said.
Images by Jim Dallke
