The Global Race for Quantum Computing Supremacy

We’re not even finished with the AI boom yet, but Quantum Computing is already looking like the next big thing. And world powers like the United States and China are all in on the Quantum Computing race. Last week, Google made a groundbreaking announcement in the field of quantum computing with the reveal of Willow, its latest quantum chip. This chip is so powerful that it was able to complete a highly intricate calculation in under five minutes—an accomplishment so extraordinary that it would have taken the world's most advanced supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve the same problem. To put that unfathomably larger number into perspective, 10 septillion years is roughly 700 billion times the current estimated age of the universe. With that level of computational power, Quantum could revolutionize entire industries and countries by unlocking new possibilities that were once thought to be beyond reach. Corporations and world governments are all racing for quantum supremacy because quantum computing has the potential to completely change the game in many areas. Quantum computers can do things that traditional computers just can’t, or at least not efficiently. Quantum isn’t just the latest supercomputer, it’s a completely different kind of computer entirely. Unlike regular computers, which process data in binary bits in the form of 1s and 0s, quantum computers use qubits, which can represent multiple states at once. This phenomenon is called superposition. IBM describes it as being able to be a weighted combination of zero and one at the same time. And when multiple of these qubits are combined, they can scale exponentially. Two qubits can compute with four pieces of information, three can compute with eight, four can compute with sixteen, and so on. In a nutshell, the unique nature of how quantum computers and qubits work could make them way faster and able to solve complex problems that are currently impossible or take forever on classical machines. Anything that involves massive amounts of data and complex analysis has the potential to be transformed by quantum computing. You can think of use cases like Optimizing massive supply chains by finding hidden efficiences. Or creating and speeding up new medical breakthroughs by simulating molecules during research. Or perhaps the ability to enable more powerful AI models and machine learning. Or even creating complex financial modeling for large organizations. The possibilities of what quantum computing can do are immense. But there are also a lot of dangers that come with such a large breakthrough in computational power. One of the biggest concerns with quantum computing is that it could break current encryption and cyber security methods essentially overnight. In the cybersecurity world, this is sometimes referred to as Q-day - the day when quantum computers make current encryption methods useless. A lot of digital security, from banking to government secrets, relies on encryption algorithms that would be super easy for a quantum computer to crack. Because of this, the United States, China, and other world powers are racing for quantum supremacy. Whoever reaches a quantum computing breakthrough first will be capable of decrypting nearly anything. Governments and militaries could see their long-term plans and intelligence gathering exposed to enemies if they fall behind in the field of quantum. Massive businesses could have trade secrets and their intellectual property stolen. And Bitcoin and other blockchains could be at risk of having their encryption broken and coins stolen. Being late to quantum technology would be a huge national security liability for everyone. There’s a belief by many cyber analysts that all the major world powers like China and the United States are currently collecting encrypted data and hoping to decrypt it later after a quantum breakthrough. In particular, some FBI sources have claimed that China has a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined and are focused on gathering as much data as they can so they can decrypt it in the future. Major global powers are also rushing to do what they can to protect their secrets. The United States is pursuing Post-quantum cryptography to develop encryption methods that are difficult for even quantum computers to break. China on the other hand is trying to pioneer quantum communications networks, a technology that is theoretically impossible to hack, according to researchers. Wall Street is already excited about the possibilities of Quantum with Google’s stock up over 10% since the announcement of the company’s Willow breakthrough. Other Quantum computing focused stocks like IonQ have also seen explosive gains over the last several months. Things are still in the very early stages, but as the importance of Quantum computing becomes more clear, the Quantum race between the US and China will continue to heat up.