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BERKELEY, Calif., March 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rigetti Computing, Inc. ("Rigetti" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: RGTI), a pioneer in hybrid quantum-classical computing, announced today that it will release fourth quarter and full year 2022 results on Monday, March 27, 2023, after market close. The Company will host a conference call to discuss its financial results and provide an update on its business operations at 5:00 p.m. ET the same day.

Key details regarding the call are as follows:

Call Date: Monday, March 27, 2023Call Time: 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT Webcast Link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/253j86peLive Call Participant Link: https://register.vevent.com/register/BIad8e205fd89b44f08963dfd7de0ac595

Webcast InstructionsYou can listen to a live audio webcast of the conference call by visiting the Webcast Link above or the "Events & Presentations" section of the Company's Investor Relations website at https://investors.rigetti.com/. A replay of the conference call will be available at the same locations following the conclusion of the call for one year.

Live Call Participant InstructionsTo participate in the live call, you must register using the Live Call Participant Link above. Once registered, you will receive dial-in numbers and a unique PIN number. When you dial in, you will input your PIN and be routed into the call. If you register and forget your PIN, or lose the registration confirmation email, simply re-register to receive a new PIN.

About RigettiRigetti is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The Company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. The Companys proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides high performance integration with public and private clouds for practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industrys first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The Company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industrys first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Learn more at http://www.rigetti.com.

ContactRigetti Computing Media Contact:press@rigetti.com

Rigetti Computing Investor Relations Contact:IR@Rigetti.com

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Rigetti Computing to Report Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 ... - GlobeNewswire

Grady Booch is a unique voice in computing, whose contributions encompass a wide range of interests. He introduced the Booch method, which led to his co-creation of the Unified Modeling Language. He also helped usher in the use of design patterns and agile methods and has written a large corpus of books and articles addressing software engineering and software architecture. Today, he is chief scientist for software engineering at IBM Research

Grady Booch, chief scientist for software engineering at IBM Research.

and is creating a documentary exploring the intersection of computing and what it means to be human at Computing: The Human Experience.

Our recent conversation touched on both practical and philosophical aspects of human-computer interaction and co-evolution, artificial intelligence, quantum machines, and Web3.

Tyson: Thanks for the chance to talk, Grady!

Theres so much to cover.Let me begin by asking something "of the moment." There has been an almost cultural war between object-oriented programming and functional programming. What is your take on this?

Booch: I had the opportunity to conduct an oral history with John Backusone of the pioneers of functional programmingin 2006 on behalf of the Computer History Museum. I asked John why functional programming didnt enter the mainstream, and his answer was perfect: Functional programming makes it easy to do hard things he said, but functional programming makes it very difficult to do easy things.

Functional Programming has a role to play: many web-centric software-intensive systems at global elastic scale are well-served with having some elements written in stateless form, and thats precisely what functional programming is good for. But remember this: thats still only a part of those systems, and furthermore, there is much, much more to the world of computing than web-centric systems at global elastic scale.

Tyson: Okay, let me leap across from the specific to the general: what is software? What is a computer?Why are these seemingly obvious things so significant?

Booch: If you were to have asked me that question at the turn of the centurythe start of the 1900s, I meanI would have said a computer is a person who computes, and as for software, I would have no idea what you meant. You see, the term computer was at first a personusually a womanliterally someone who calculated/computed. It wasnt until we began to devise machines in the mid 1900s that we replaced the activity of those squishy organic computers with relays, vacuum tubes, and and eventually transistors.

Even if we consider the Turing test, Alan had in mind the question of whether we could build a machine that duplicated the ability of a human to think. As for the term software, its etymology tells us a great deal about how astonishingly young the field of computing is. The term digital was first coined by George Stibitz in 1942, and the term software was introduced by John Tukey in 1952. Heres an easy way to distinguish the terms: when something goes wrong, hardware is the thing you kick and software is the thing you yell at.

Tyson: You said in our earlier chat that perhaps the most important outcome of our computing technology is that it compels us to examine what it means to be human. Would you continue that thought?

Booch: The story of computing is the story of humanity. This is a story of ambition, invention, creativity, vision, avarice, and serendipity, all powered by a refusal to accept the limits of our bodies and our minds. As we co-evolve with computing, the best of us and the worst of us is amplified, and along the way, we are challenged as to what it means to be intelligent, to be creative, to be conscious. We are on a journey to build computers in our own image, and that means we have to not only understand the essence of who we are, but we must also consider what makes us different.

Tyson: Babbage said, We may propose to execute, by means of machinery, the mechanical branch of these labours, reserving for pure intellect that which depends on the reasoning faculties. Where are we at in that journey?

Booch: Actually, I think his colleague, Ada Augusta, Countess of Lovelace, better understood the potential of computers than he ever did. The Analytical Engine does not occupy common ground with mere 'calculating machines,' she said. Rather, it holds a position wholly of its own. Ada recognized that the symbols manipulated by machines could mean something more than numbers. The field of computing has made astonishing progress since the time of Babbage and Lovelace and Boole, but still, we are a very young discipline, and in many ways we have just begun.

Tyson: Speaking of Babbage does lead naturally to Ada Lovelace.I notice a strong thread in your work of pointing out the sometimes hidden role women play in moving us forward.How do you think we as a society are doing on that front?

Booch: Poorly. There was a time in the earliest days of computing when women played a far larger role. Annie Jump Cannon was the lead among the Harvard Computers in the 1800s; the ENIAC was programmed mainly by five women; Grace Hopper pioneered the idea of compilers and high-order programming languages. Sadly, a variety of economic and social and political forces have reduced the number of women in the ranks of computing. A dear colleague, Mar Hicks, has written extensively on these factors. We must do better. Computing impacts individuals, communities, societies, civilizations, and as such there must be equitable representation of all voices to shape its future.

Tyson: AI, especially conversational AI, has really taken off recently.What do you think is the next phase in that story?

Booch: Remember ELIZA from the mid-1960s? This was an early natural language system that absolutely astonished the world in its ability to carry out Rogerian therapy or at least a fair illusion of it. Weve come a long way, owing to a perfect storm; the rise of abundant computational resources, the accumulation of vast lakes of data, and the discovery of algorithms for neural networks, particularly a recent architecture called a transformer. In many ways, that recent advances we have seen with systems such as ChatGPT, Bard, and (in the visual world), DALL-E and Stable Diffusion have come about by applying these three elements at scale.

The field of artificial intelligence has seen a number of vibrant springs and dismal winters over the years, but this time it seems different: there are a multitude of economically-interesting use cases that are fueling the field, and so in the coming years we will see these advances weave themselves into our world. Indeed, AI already has: every time we take a photograph, search for a product to buy, interact with some computerized appliance, we are likely using AI in one way or another.

Chat systems will incrementally get better. But, that being said, we are still generations away from creating synthetic minds. In that journey, it is important that we consider not just what our machines can do, but what they do to us. As Allen Newellone of the early pioneers of artificial intelligencenoted, computer technology offers the possibility of incorporating intelligent behavior in all the nooks and crannies of our world. With it, we could build an enchanted world. To put it somewhat poetically, software is the invisible writing that whispers the stories of possibility to our hardware and we are the storytellers. Its up to us to decide if those stories amplify us, or diminish us.

Tyson: Quantum computing is alongside AI in terms of its revolutionary potential.Do you think well have a similar breakthrough in quantum computers anytime soon?

Booch: The underlying assumption of science is that the cosmos is understandable; the underlying assumption of computing is that the cosmos is computable. As such, from the lens of computing, we can imagine new worlds, but to make those things manifest, we must make programs that run on physical machines. As such, we must abide by the laws of physics, and quantum computing, at this current stage in its development, is mostly trying to find ways to work within those laws.

Two things I must mention. First, quantum computing is a bit of a misnomer: we dont store information in its quantum state for very long, we just process it. As such, I prefer the term quantum processing not quantum computing. Second, theoretically, non-quantum computers and quantum devices are Turing equivalent. They both have the same computational potential, and each have particular advantages and efficiencies, with very different scalability, latency, resiliency, correctness, and risk. Quantum machines are particularly good at attacking what are called NP problems, problems that grow harder and harder as their size increases. As for breakthroughs, I prefer to see this as a world of steady, continuous, incremental progress advancing over solving some very hard problems of physics and engineering.

Tyson: Quantum computing leads me to cryptographywhere, almost as a side-effect, it is able to attack public-key algorithms.I get the sense you are wary of blockchains ethics.Would you talk a bit about cryptography and Web3?

Booch: Web3 is a flaming pile of feces orbiting a giant dripping hairball. Cryptocurrenciesones not backed by the full faith and credit of stable nation stateshave only a few meaningful use cases, particularly if you are a corrupt dictator of a nation with a broken economic system, or a fraud and scammer who wants to grow their wealth at the expense of greater fools. I was one of the original signatories of a letter to Congress in 2022 for a very good reason: these technologies are inherently dangerous, they are architecturally flawed, and they introduce an attack surface that threatens economies.

Tyson:You said, I hope we will also see some normalization with regards to the expectations of large language models. Would you elaborate?

Booch: I stand with Gary Marcus, Timnit Gebru, and many others in this: large language models such as GPT and its peers are just stochastic parrots, very clever and useful mechanisms that offer the illusion of coherence but at the expense of having absolutely no degree of understanding. There are indeed useful purposes for LLMs, but at the same time, we must be cognizant of their risks and limitations.

Tyson: What do you make of transhumanism?

Booch: Its a nice word that has little utility for me other than as something people use to sell books and to write clickbait articles. That being said, lets return to an earlier theme in our interview: what it means to be human. Conscience, sentience, sapience are all exquisite consequences of the laws of physics. It is likely that the cosmos is teeming with life; it is also likely that sentient life is a rare outcome; it is also unlikely that, in the fullness of time of the cosmos, that we are the only sentient beings. That being said, we are, you, me, everyone reading this, are sentient beings, born of star-stuff and able to contemplate ourselves. That, for me is enough.

Tyson: Do you think well ever see conscious machines? Or, perhaps, something that compels us to accept them as such?

Booch: My experience tells me that the mind is computable. Hence, yes, I have reason to believe that we will see synthetic minds. But not in my lifetime; or yours; or your children; or your childrens children. Remember, also, that this will likely happen incrementally, not with a bang, and as such, we will co-evolve with these new species.

Tyson: Everyone should look at your lists of books you've read.Knowing that you've read, A Universe of Consciousness gives me permission to ask: Do you hold a materialist viewpoint? (Or, falling completely into the realm of philosophy, What is consciousness?)

Booch: Let me put it this way: I have reason to believe I am conscious and sentient; I have reason to believe that you are, as well, because my theory of mind yields a consistency in our being. Reflecting Dennets point of view, consciousness is an illusion, but it is an exquisite illusion, one that enables me to see and be seen, know and be known, love and be loved. And for me, that is enough.

Originally posted here:
The philosopher: A conversation with Grady Booch - InfoWorld

In response to a parliamentary question, the Indian government did not provide an explicit answer to whether it has developed systems capable of withstanding quantum cyber-attacks under the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications. Responding to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's written question on the matter yesterday, the Ministry of Science and Technology simply said: Yes Sir. Government is developing a proposal to initiate National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications with the objectives of building capabilities in Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum Materials, Quantum Sensing and metrology. The Ministry added that the details and deliverables of the Mission, announced in the 2020-21 Budget, are yet to be finalised. Wait, what's quantum computing? Without delving too deeply into its physics, "quantum" here refers to quantum mechanicswhich is what the computer system uses to calculate an output. So, essentially, quantum computers use concepts of quantum physics and apply them to computers. The hope is that they'll help systems process things super fast. Or, as WIREDputs it, "the basic idea is to smash some barriers that limit the speed of existing computers by harnessing the counterintuitive physics of subatomic scales". Right, so why doquantum cyberattacks matter? Right now, much of the electronic information we send online is encrypted. This means information is coded to be unintelligible until the recipient gets it and decrypts or decodes the message using a specific key. Doing this ensures that a "computer system's information can't be stolen and read by someone who wants to use it for

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Is the Indian govt developing quantum cyber-attack proof systems? - MediaNama.com

One of the secrets to building the worlds most powerful computer is probably perched by your bathroom sink.

At IBMs Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York States Westchester County, scientists always keep a box of dental flossReach is the preferred brandclose by in case they need to tinker with their oil-drum-size quantum computers, the latest of which can complete certain tasks millions of times as fast as your laptop.

Inside the shimmering aluminum canister of IBMs System One, which sits shielded by the same kind of protective glass as the Mona Lisa, are three cylinders of diminishing circumference, rather like a set of Russian dolls. Together, these encase a chandelier of looping silver wires that cascade through chunky gold plates to a quantum chip in the base. To work properly, this chip requires super-cooling to 0.015 kelvinsa smidgen above absolute zero and colder than outer space. Most materials contract or grow brittle and snap under such intense chill. But ordinary dental floss, it turns out, maintains its integrity remarkably well if you need to secure wayward wires.

But only the unwaxed, unflavored kind, says Jay Gambetta, IBMs vice president of quantum. Otherwise, released vapors mess everything up.

Photograph by Thomas Prior for TIME

Buy a print of the Quantum cover here

Its a curiously homespun facet of a technology that is set to transform pretty much everything. Quantums unique ability to crunch stacks of data is already optimizing the routes of thousands of fuel tankers traversing the globe, helping decide which ICU patients require the most urgent care, and mimicking chemical processes at the atomic level to better design new materials. It also promises to supercharge artificial intelligence, with the power to better train algorithms that can finally turn driverless cars and drone taxis into a reality. Quantum AI simulations exhibit a degree of effectiveness and efficiency that is mind-boggling, U.S. National Cyber Director Chris Inglis tells TIME.

Read More: DeepMinds CEO Helped Take AI Mainstream. Now Hes Urging Caution

Quantums earliest adopters are asset-management firmsfor which incorporating quantum calculations involves few increased overhead costsbut commercial uses arent far behind. Spanish firm Multiverse Computing has run successful pilot projects with multinational clients like BASF and Bosch that show its quantum algorithms can double foreign-exchange trading profits and catch almost four times as many production-line defects. Quantum deep-learning algorithms are completely different from classical ones, says Multiverse CEO Enrique Lizaso Olmos. You can train them faster, try more strategies, and they are much better at getting the correlations that matter from a lot of data.

Quantum chandeliers may look spectacular but they arent practical for next generation computers. IBM has instead designed flexible cabling to replace the looped wires.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Data received from quantum computers must be fed to rack of classical control electronic systems to process the calculations.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Tech giants from Google to Amazon and Alibabanot to mention nation-states vying for technological supremacyare racing to dominate this space. The global quantum-computing industry is projected to grow from $412 million in 2020 to $8.6 billion in 2027, according to an International Data Corp. analysis.

Whereas traditional computers rely on binary bitsswitches either on or off, denoted as 1s and 0sto process information, the qubits that underpin quantum computing are tiny subatomic particles that can exist in some percentage of both states simultaneously, rather like a coin spinning in midair. This leap from dual to multivariate processing exponentially boosts computing power. Complex problems that currently take the most powerful supercomputer several years could potentially be solved in seconds. Future quantum computers could open hitherto unfathomable frontiers in mathematics and science, helping to solve existential challenges like climate change and food security. A flurry of recent breakthroughs and government investment means we now sit on the cusp of a quantum revolution. I believe we will do more in the next five years in quantum innovation than we did in the last 30, says Gambetta.

But any disrupter comes with risks, and quantum has become a national-security migraine. Its problem-solving capacity will soon render all existing cryptography obsolete, jeopardizing communications, financial transactions, and even military defenses. People describe quantum as a new space race, says Dan OShea, operations manager for Inside Quantum Technology, an industry publication. In October, U.S. President Joe Biden toured IBMs quantum data center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., calling quantum vital to our economy and equally important to our national security. In this new era of great-power competition, China and the U.S. are particularly hell-bent on conquering the technology lest they lose vital ground. This technology is going to be the next industrial revolution, says Tony Uttley, president and COO for Quantinuum, a Colorado-based firm that offers commercial quantum applications. Its like the beginning of the internet, or the beginning of classical computing.

Quantum chips are extremely sensitive. This decade-old IBM quantum processor was used in an experiment that proved how background microwaves affect qubits.

Thomas Prior for TIME

If anything, its surprising that traditional computing has taken us so far. From the trail-blazing Apple II of the late 1970s to todays smartphones and supercomputers, all processors break down tasks into binary. But life is so complex that rendering information in such a rudimentary manner is like playing a Rachmaninoff concerto in Morse code.

Quantum is also more in tune with nature. Moleculesthe building blocks of the universeare multiple atoms bound together by electrons that exist as part of each. The way these electrons essentially occupy two states at once is what quantum particles replicate, presenting applications for natural and material sciences by predicting how drugs interact with the human body, or substances perform under corrosion. Traditional manufacturing takes calculated guesses to make breakthroughs through trial and error; by mirroring the natural world, quantum should allow advances to be purposefully designed.

Read More: Column: How Our Cells Strategize To Keep Us Alive

While the worlds biggest companies, alongside hundreds of startups, are clamoring to harness quantum, IBM has emerged in recent years as the industry leader. Today, the firm has over 60 functioning quantum computersmore than the rest of the world combinedand a roster of collaborators that include titans of practically every industry from Exxon-Mobil to Sony. Its a welcome return to technologys zenith for the storied firm, founded over a century ago to produce tabulating machines fed with punch cards. In recent years, IBM had fallen behind rivals like Apple and Microsoft by not seizing the initiative with cloud computing and AI. Quantum offers some redemption. Its great to be back at the top again, says one executive. Its no secret that we let things slip by not jumping on cloud.

In November, IBM unveiled its new 433-qubit Osprey chipthe worlds most powerful quantum processor, the speed of which, if represented in traditional bits, would far exceed the total number of atoms in the known universe. IBM has more than 20 quantum computers available on its open-source quantum tool kit Qiskit, which has been downloaded more than 450,000 times to date. In order to build an industry around quantum, some machines are free to use, while paying clients such as startups and scholars can access more powerful ones remotely on a lease basis. IBM has a bold road map to launch a 1,121-qubit processor this year and, by 2025, surpass 4,000 qubits by creating modular quantum circuits that link multiple processor chips in the same computer. Modularity is a big inflection point, says Dario Gil, IBM senior vice president and director of research. We now have a way to engineer machines that will have tens of thousands of qubits.

Inside the IBM research lab in Yorktown Heights, New York

Thomas Prior for TIME

IBM research lab in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Quantums industrial uses are boundless. Inside BMWs headquarters in Munich there stands a wall that gives vehicle designers sleepless nights. Creating a new car model from scratch takes at least four years. First, designers use computer-aided styling to sketch an exterior that combines beauty with practicality. Next, a scale model is carved in clay and placed in a wind tunnel to assess aerodynamics. After countless decisions on interior, engine performance, and so on comes the ultimate test: a prototype is driven at 35 m.p.h. into that fabled wall to test how it performs in a crash. Should the car fail to meet various safety criteria, its back to the drawing board.

This is where quantum can help by accurately predicting how complex materials of different shapes will perform under stress. Robust simulated crash tests can save up to six months in the whole process, says Carsten Sapia, vice president of strategy, governance, and IT security at BMW Group, which has partnered with French quantum firm Pasqal. Quantum computing will also help us find the new optimum between design, maximum interior space, and best aerodynamics.

Thats just the start. Modern business teems with optimization problems that are ideally suited to quantum algorithms and could save time, energy, and resources. Were not just building the technology, we have to enable the workforce to use it, explains Katie Pizzolato, IBMs director of quantum strategy and applications research.

Sapia says finding uses for the technology is easy; the challenge will be ensuring that all divisions of BMW are able to utilize it. Already, BMW is unable to communicate from Europe to its cars in China for driving software maintenance and monitoring because of increasingly strict curbs on the transfer of data across borders. In the future, we will rely on everywhere in the world having access to quantum technology to run our business, Sapia says. So how can we set it up so no matter what happens on a geopolitical scale that we still have access to this technology?

The full chandelier inside a quantum computer.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Over the past few years quantum has moved from a footnote to the top of the global security agenda. To date, 17 countries have national quantum strategies and four more are developing them. China has invested an estimated $25 billion in quantum research since the mid-1980s, according to Quantum Computing Report. Its top quantum scientist, Pan Jianwei, led the launch of the worlds first quantum satellite in 2016 and in 2021 unveiled a then record-breaking 56-qubit quantum computer. Chinas 14th Five-Year Plan, published in March 2021, made mastery of quantum a policy priority. The blurred line between industry and national security in China gives them an advantage, says David Spirk, former chief data officer at the Department of Defense.

In response, the White House in May published a National Security Memorandum that ordered all federal agencies to transition to post-quantum security owing to significant risks to economic and national security. Given that upgrading critical infrastructure can take decades, and literally everything connected to the internet is at risk, the impetus is to act now. We realized that while [quantum is] wonderful for humanity, the first thing people are going to do is weaponize these systems, says Skip Sanzeri, founder and COO of QuSecure, a post-quantum cybersecurity firm enlisted by the U.S. military and federal government to handle what he says could be a $1 trillion cybersecurity upgrade.

Still, Spirk worries that the U.S. risks falling behind and is calling for a Manhattan Projectlike focus on quantum. Of the over $30 billion spent globally on quantum last year, according to the World Economic Forum, China accounted for roughly half and the E.U. almost a quarter. The U.S. National Quantum Initiative, meanwhile, spent just $1.2 billiona figure Spirk calls trivial against $1 trillion in total defense spending. This is not a coming wave, he says, its here.

Read More: The World Economic Forums Klaus Schwab on What Lies Ahead

The stakes couldnt be higher. Today, practically all cybersecuritywhether WhatsApp messages, bank transfers, or digital handshakesis based on RSA, an asymmetric cryptography algorithm used to safely transfer data. But while a regular computer needs billions of years to crack RSA, a fast quantum computer would take just hours. In December, a team of scientists in China published a paper that claimed it had a quantum algorithm that could break RSA with a 372-qubit computer (though its conclusions are hotly debated). The race is now on to devise postquantum securitya job that falls to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. In 2016, NIST announced a competition for programmers to propose new post-quantum encryption algorithms. The results were mixed: one of the finalists announced on July 5, 2022, has since been cracked by a regular laptop in a little over an hour.

In some ways, its already too late. Even though quantum computers powerful enough to crack RSA are a few years away from being openly available, hackers are already seizing and storing sensitive data in the knowledge that they will be able to access it via quantum very soon. Every day that you dont convert to a quantum-safe protocol, theres no recovery plan, Gil says.

The glass shell around the quantum computer allows IBM to tightly control the temperature inside. This is critical for the quantum chip, which has to be kept at a fraction above absolute zero.

Thomas Prior for TIME

The war in Ukraine has also served as a wake-up call. It is historys first hot conflict to begin with cyber-attacks, as Russia targeted vital -communications and infrastructure to lay the groundwork for its military assault. Public services, energy grids, media, banks, businesses, and nonprofit organizations were subjected to a cyberblitzkrieg, impacting the distribution of medicines, food, and relief supplies. Modern warfare and nationalsecurity mechanisms are grounded in the speed and precision of decisionmaking. If your computer is faster than theirs, you win, its pretty simple, says Spirk. Quantum is that next leap.

Read More: Exclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

But malign intentions are just one hazard. With the U.S. embroiled in a new Cold War, its also unclear if China and Russia would adopt new NIST protocols, not least since in the past, RSA cryptography has allegedly been breached by the U.S. National Security Agency. In September, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said quantum would have an outsized importance over the coming decade, adding that export controls could be used to maintain U.S. advantage. Competing post-quantum security standards across Washingtons and Beijings spheres of influence have the potential to cleave the world into divergent blocs, with grave implications for global trade. [The] balkanization of what we know today as a free and open internet is distinctly possible, Inglis says.

The trepidation surrounding quantum doesnt stem solely from security risks. We trust classical computers in part because we can verify their computations with pen and paper. But quantum computers involve such arcane physics, and deal with such complex problems, that traditional verification is extremely tricky. For now, its possible to simulate many quantum calculations on a traditional super-computer to check the outcome. But soon will come a time when trusting a quantum computer will require a leap of faith. Trust building across the entire ecosystem right now is really important, says Uttley.

Boeing, for one, has been working with IBMs quantum team since 2020 on designing new materials for its next generation of aircraft. But given the colossal reputational stakes, the firm is in no rush. The modeling tools that we use to design our airplanes are closely monitored, says Jay Lowell, chief engineer for disruptive computing and networks at Boeing. To turn [quantum] into an operational code is a huge, huge hurdle.

One that IBM knows only too well. But by making its quantum computers open source, and welcoming academics and entrepreneurs from all over, the firm hopes to mitigate the hesitancy. As Gil puts it, this is a new frontier of humanity.

With reporting by Leslie Dickstein

Correction, Jan. 28

The original version of this story misstated the name of a French quantum firm. It is Pasqal, not Pascal.

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Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com.

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Quantum Could Solve Countless ProblemsAnd Create New Ones | Time

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Quantum computing is an idea that has long been in the realm of science fiction. However, recent developments have made it seem more and more like a reality.

The rise of easily accessible quantum computing has significant implications for the tech industry and the world as a whole. With potential impacts in things like cybersecurity, simulations and more, investors are watching this industry closely (and getting invested).

Quantum computing relies on quantum mechanics, a fundamental theory of physics that describes how the world works at the level of the atom and subatomic particles, to solve problems that traditional computers find too complex.

Most quantum computers rely on the quantum bit or qubit. Unlike traditional bits in a computer, which are set to 0 or 1, qubits can be set to zero, one or a superposition of 0 and 1. Though the mechanics behind this is highly complex, qubits allow quantum computers to process information in a fraction of the time a traditional computer could.

To offer an idea of the scale, 500 qubits can represent the same information as 2^500 normal bits. While a typical computer would need millions of years to find all the prime factors of a 2,048-bit number (a number with 617 digits), a quantum computer can do the job in minutes.

Modern quantum theory was developed in the 1920s. Computers appeared shortly after that, and both technologies played a role in World War II. Over time, physicists began to merge the two fields of quantum theory and computing to create the field of quantum computing.

1998 saw the development of a two-bit quantum computer, which serves as a proof of concept for the technology. Further developments have increased the bit count and reduced the rate of errors.

Researchers believe that problems currently too large to be solved by traditional computers can be solved using quantum computers.

Given the substantial improvements that quantum computing can provide to computing power, research into quantum computers has been going on for decades. However, important breakthroughs have been seen in recent years.

Last week, Australian engineers announced the discovery of a way to control electrons within quantum dots that run logic gates without the need for a large, bulky system. This could help with building quantum computers that are reasonably sized.

Also, researchers at MIT recently developed an architecture for quantum computers that will allow for high-fidelity communication between quantum processors, allowing for the interconnection of multiple processors.

This allows for modular implementations of larger-scale machines built from smaller individual components, according to Bharath Kanna, a co-lead author of the research paper describing this breakthrough.

The ability to communicate between smaller subsystems will enable a modular architecture for quantum processors, and this may be a simpler way of scaling to larger system sizes compared to the brute-force approach of using a single large and complicated chip.

Furthermore, a Maryland-based company IonQ recently announced a 65,000-square-foot facility that it will use for manufacturing and production. The factory will be located in Bothell, WA and is the first dedicated quantum computer manufacturing facility in the United States.

Quantum computing could have massive impacts on the tech industry and the world.

One of the biggest impacts will be in the world of cybersecurity. The Department of Homeland Security believes that a quantum computer could be able to break current encryption methods as soon as 2030.

Without major developments in cryptography or a slowdown in quantum computing technology advances, we could be less than a decade away from malicious actors being able to view everything from peoples personal information to government and military secrets.

Some groups are already participating in Store Now, Decrypt Later attacks, which steal encrypted data and store it with the expectation that theyll be able to crack the encryption at a later date.

Quantum computing could also have major effects on the medical industry. For example, quantum machines could be used to model molecular processes. This could assist with breakthroughs in disease research and speed up the development of life-saving drugs.

These simulations could have similar impacts in industries that rely on materials science, such as battery making. Even the financial sector could benefit from the technology, using simulations to perform risk analysis more accurately and optimize investment portfolios.

Given its world-changing capabilities, its no surprise that governments have made major investments in the technology, with more than $30 billion going into research programs across the globe.

Quantum computing has the potential to impact almost every industry across the globe. Beyond impacting the tech industry, it could create shockwaves in the medical and financial industry while leading to the development of new products or materials that become a part of everyday life.

Given the relative youth of the technology, it can be challenging for investors to find ways to invest directly in quantum computing. Instead, they may look for investments in businesses that have an interest in quantum computers and that are poised to benefit from their development, such as pharmaceutical companies.

The rise of quantum computing could mean that the world will look very different just a few years from now. Investors will be looking for ways to profit from this game-changing technology, and the opportunities will be plentiful.

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Quantum Computing Is Coming, And Its Reinventing The Tech Industry