Quantum computing advocates promise advanced systems that can perform certain calculations exponentially faster than today’s classical computers. But two questions about the technology loom:
Q1: What kinds of problems are quantum computers best suited to solve?
Q2: And when will commercial-grade quantum systems be ready, and secure enough, for businesses to use?
Those issues were repeatedly raised at the Business of Quantum Summit, a live event sponsored by the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) and held on the MIT campus on April 4.
“Quantum is not going to be the next generation of computing for everything,” said Summit organizer Neil Thompson, Director of MIT FutureTech and a Research Group Lead at the IDE. “It’s going to be the next generation of computing for some things.”
Major vendors are clearly preparing for whatever those applications may be. Important advances in quantum technology have come recently from Amazon, which unveiled Ocelot, its first quantum computing chip; Google, which announced its latest quantum processor, dubbed Willow; and Microsoft, which introduced a “topological superconductor” known as Majorana 1 that can be used to build quantum computers.
“I’ve never seen so much interest in quantum as in the last couple of months,” said Summit organizer Jonathan Ruane, a Research Scientist at the IDE. “That’s why we asked: How can we add some precision to the conversation?”
Index Report
Cover design by Shawneric Hachey.
To that end, the IDE has introduced the Quantum Index Report, led by Ruane. The report delivers data and insights about quantum computing and quantum networking.
Among the Index Report’s findings: Mention of “quantum computing” is up dramatically on corporate earnings calls. So are U.S. job listings that call for quantum skills. Ditto for quantum-related investments, both internally by corporations acquiring quantum services and externally by venture capital firms backing new quantum startups.
Pictured L-R: Panel moderator, Andrew McAfee and panelists, Carl Dukatz, Olivier Ezratty, and Will Oliver. Photo by Giro Studio.
But even companies implementing quantum initiatives remain unsure about how and when quantum computing will truly impact businesses. Accenture operates a Quantum Business Experiments project that has tested hundreds of applications. Yet Summit panelist Carl Dukatz, a Managing Director at Accenture, told attendees: “You have to be patient — and willing to pivot.”
Similarly, when panelist Elizabeth Rossi of Google Quantum AI External Affairs was asked how her company plans to make money with quantum technology, she replied,
“That’s a loaded question….Our focus is on solving the hardest technical questions, rather than starting with a broad commercial product.”
Pictured L-R: Panelists, Juliette Peyronnet and Elizabeth Rossi. Photo by Giro Studio.
One significant technical challenge is quantum error correction. Due to the unusual design of quantum computers, the reliability of their calculations can be limited. An entire sub-industry is now dedicated to solving this problem.
An Economic Advantage?
An online tool aiming to provide some more definitive answers was presented by Thompson and Jayson Lynch, a Research Scientist at MIT FutureTech. They’ve created the Quantum Economic Advantage Calculator, which shows when certain scenarios are likely to be more economically advantageous to run on a quantum system than on a comparably priced classical computer.
Pictured above: Summit organizers, Neil Thompson and Jayson Lynch. Photo by Giro Studio.
The calculation involves answering two big questions: Can a business problem be run on a quantum computer? And if so, if there is a sufficient software-driven cost advantage, given that quantum hardware is actually slower than a classical computer?
As an example, Lynch presented a case study involving quantum chemistry, where quantum computers could be used to produce fast simulations for creating materials such as new drugs. In Lynch’s demo, the quantum calculator was first supplied with a long list of assumptions, including the chemistry problem to be solved, a hardware vendor’s expected quantum hardware road map, and the classical hardware speed advantage. The calculator ultimately showed that a quantum economic advantage for certain chemistry calculations was likely to arrive in the early to mid-2030s.
However, Lynch also pointed out that different inputs and hardware vendor road maps could change the prediction. And not just by a short time period, but by decades.
Networking Challenges
While quantum computing gets the headlines, an equally daunting challenge is quantum networking. That is, how will we connect quantum computers, given that current computer networks are not up to the task?
“Our classical routers and switches won’t work with quantum information,” said Summit panelist Laura Andre, CEO of Qunett, an early-stage quantum networking company. “Basically, we need an entirely new hardware stack, a quantum layer on top of today’s internet.”
Pictured L-R: Panel moderator, Jonathan Ruane and panelists Laura Andre and Mihir Bhaskar. Photo by Giro Studio.
A similar point came from fellow panelist Mihir Bhaskar, CEO and co-founder of startup quantum interconnect company Lightsynq. “You can’t amplify quantum data,” he explained, “so you will need memories — that is, storage — in your network, plus quantum repeaters to extend the range.”
Crypto Concerns
Cryptography in the quantum computing era presents another thorny challenge. Could hackers and other cybercriminals use quantum computing to thwart current security approaches and breach important systems and data?
Panelist Yael Kalai, an Adjunct Professor at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England, said quantum computing has “really been disruptive.” Some cryptography schemes — including the popular RSA encryption standard — are based on problems that turn out to be relatively easy to solve using a quantum computer. “This is a big problem for us,” Kalai added.
Pictured L-R: Panelists, Lily Chen and Yael Kalai. Photo by Giro Studio.
Still, cryptographers aren’t giving up. Last year, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released what are known as “post-quantum” encryption tools, meaning they’re designed to withstand a quantum computer attack. And earlier this year, NIST chose a new algorithm for post-quantum encryption, called HQC, that will serve as a backup for its main general encryption algorithm.
Will quantum computing come to fruition, or will the technology remain an elusive dream? Summit panelists were divided on their answers. For now the technology’s future is something like a qubit, existing in an indeterminate state.
Peter Krass is a contributing writer and editor with the MIT IDE.