1. Unlike classical computers, which process information through bits that can exist as 0 or 1, quantum computers are an emerging field where quantum bits (or qubits) can occupy both 0 and 1 in a single unit.

2. Major tech companies like Google and IBM, as well as smaller organizations like D-Wave Quantum and TreQ, often agree on the most mature and promising industrial applications of quantum technology, ranging from medical insights to last-mile delivery optimization.



Although there are still many differing views on the time required for certain types of quantum computers to achieve commercialization, experts from major tech companies like Google and IBM as well as smaller organizations like D-Wave Quantum and TreQ generally agree on the most mature and promising industrial applications of quantum, ranging from medical insights to last-mile delivery optimization. However, in a space filled with uncertainties, there is still much to learn about the potential fate of a quantum-driven world.

Unlike classical computers, which process information through bits that can exist in the form of zero or one, quantum computers are an emerging field in which quantum bits (or qubits) can occupy both zero and one in a single unit. These qubits can then fundamentally communicate with one another to increase the speed and complexity of the information processing in a computation.

In the field of quantum computing, there are two types of technologies. Most people when discussing it refer to universal gate-based models. The second model is called quantum annealing. “That's a different technology,” Mandy Birch, CEO and founder of TreQ, a quantum systems engineering company focused on manufacturing applications, explains.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM are actively pursuing gate model quantum computing, with each company having different qubit technologies and strategies. D-Wave primarily works with annealing technology, mainly serving companies looking to optimize their operations. Annealing models still have much work to do, but unlike gate models that researchers are still developing, annealing can provide commercial value today.

“It's more like a trial-and-error method than an absolute solution,” Birch said about annealing technology. However, these systems can generally help companies improve operational efficiency compared to what they could achieve with classical computer systems.

Quantum chip applications: Hype vs reality

Charina Chou, CEO at Google Quantum AI, maker of the Willow quantum computer chip, said at the recent SXSW conference: 'Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems that AI or supercomputers cannot solve even in the best-case scenario.'

Here, Chou is referring to a concept called quantum supremacy, in which quantum technology performs complex calculations that no classical computer could actually accomplish (for example, a five-minute quantum calculation could take 10 septillion years on a binary supercomputer). Additionally, some quantum systems can achieve quantum advantage, where they simply perform better than classical computers.

Scientists at D-Wave as well as organizations like the Vancouver Institute of Quantum Matter announced a groundbreaking report in March stating that their quantum annealing technology has achieved 'the first and only evidence in the world of the superiority of quantum computing for a useful real-world problem.'

The company has conducted simulations of magnetic materials in minutes with an accuracy that would take nearly a million years if using classical supercomputers. In an interview, D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz explained that this capability could drive technologies like smartphones and sensors.

“We use sensors in MRI, brain scanners, heart scanners. These sensors are made from magnetic materials,” he said. “The benefit here is the ability to see things in the human body that we still cannot see to gain better understanding and make better diagnoses.”

Baratz also said in January that D-Wave is 'commercial today', and companies including Mastercard and Japan's NTT Docomo are using its quantum computers in manufacturing to benefit their business operations. 'Not in 30 years, not in 20 years, not in 15 years,' Baratz said. It is also being used by Patterson Food Group to optimize their workforce scheduling.

D-Wave's revenue remains low, with the most recent quarterly sales reported at $1.9 million.

Chou also pointed out the importance of quantum advances in the field of healthcare. “Twenty-one years ago, my husband [...] faced a very difficult cancer diagnosis,” she said. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation, both of which were ineffective, but he was fortunate enough to participate in a clinical trial that saved his life. Today, Chou's husband is an oncologist. Chou stated that using quantum computers to 'calculate fundamentally what is happening inside these very molecules' could enhance our ability to solve these issues.

Drug discovery is a good quantum bet for the future

On the gate model side of the quantum equation, Birch is confident that anywhere high-performance computing is important today will be significantly transformed by quantum in the future. But she added, 'I don't know what that means in five years, ten years, or twenty years.'

She predicts that the finance industry will use quantum optimization, but she is particularly excited about its impact on the pharmaceutical industry, which has a nature rooted in quantum mechanics due to the use of organic compounds (in fact, all matter and energy have a quantum mechanical nature).

Speaking about pharmaceutical work, Birch said, “Currently, molecular dynamics are so complex that the mathematics quickly becomes unmanageable. ... But imagine, in the drug discovery process, instead of having to perform all the wet chemical reactions in one experiment at a time, you could run through millions of simulations on a computer at the level of molecular dynamics before you even start performing the wet chemical reactions and trials.”

She stated that this would help scientists find solutions at a much higher level and would also provide information for industries including aerospace and defense. Some people are concerned about the potential negative impacts of how powerful this technology could be, but Birch said, “Technology is always neutral. When you put it in human hands, it will have good or bad effects.”

“Then there are more mundane and common things like optimization,” Birch said. “If you can save 1% on your fuel bill if you are FedEx, UPS, that really matters.”

Port logistics optimization has been implemented as of today.

One thing that any quantum solution can do is perform calculations using hybrid solutions combined with supercomputers and AI computers. Some work can be performed exclusively on quantum, but with all the existing infrastructure, it makes sense to use what is available.

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