View / Why quantum computing needs a NASA-like movement

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the White House is considering taking a stake in several quantum computing companies to share in the upside of the technology. The Commerce Department reportedly says it’s not true. Either way, it’s a good opportunity to explain where quantum computing is today.

University research and private-sector breakthroughs have shown that quantum computing is real. But it’s only been proven on a small scale. For quantum computers to be useful, they need to be made a lot bigger. It might be possible to do that today, but it would take billions of dollars — perhaps hundreds of billions — to make it happen.

The private sector, including companies like Google and IBM and startups like PsiQuantum, are working on ways to make scaling the technology practical and cost-effective. Ultimately, it needs to be profitable.

When a quantum computing company says the technology is here today and generating revenue, it’s most likely being used to solve optimization problems that supercomputers handle pretty well. The quantum computers Google and others are talking about would revolutionize science.

If the US government wanted to profit from quantum computing, the way to do it would be to start the quantum equivalent of NASA, with a moon landing-type goal of building an at-scale quantum computer within five years. Of course, the profits would come in the form of tax revenue from the gargantuan long-term economic impact of the project — not from a spike in stock prices. But quantum computing doesn’t have handsome, church-going astronauts or a giant reminder in the sky every night of why it’s worth so many taxpayer dollars to get there.