Building quantum computers for disruptive industry applications
Making use of strange quantum phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement (referred to by Einstein as spooky), it is possibly to build computers that can solve industry problems, that would require millions of years of computing time on even the fastest supercomputer. Such problems include drug discovery, making aircraft engines more fuel efficient, using less energy for the production of fertilizer (2% of world’s energy is used for fertilizer production) but really span across nearly any industry sector. Current quantum computers can only operate with around 100 quantum bits while most disruptive industry applications would require quantum computers that can process millions of quantum bits. I will report on a recent achievement (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64492456) that enables the construction of quantum computers with millions of quantum bits and I will discuss the path forward to build such machines.