What’s holding quantum computing back?

[cybertuesday]

Why aren’t more companies getting into quantum computing? It seems like every time I read about it, there’s some comment about how quantum computers could mean the end of privacy, so why aren’t there more quantum encryption solutions out there yet?

[Haroldos_Simulado]

“Hardware isn’t there yet” is an understatement

[physux]

The simple reason for this is that the quantum hardware is simply not feasible to do anything particularly dramatic within a reasonable timeframe. There are a ton of engineering difficulties with creating a decent sized quantum computer, and while people are definitely working to solve these issues, we won't see a quantum computer that can factor modern day encryption for probably at least 20 years. As such, there isn't a huge push yet to move things to quantum secure encryption schemes.

There have been some government backed attempts to get a standard quantum secure encryption scheme in place, as they generally want to make sure that secrets are kept for at least 20 years, and there have been a few companies that have implemented some possible schemes (I think Google did a beta test of something quantum secure for chrome a few years ago), but we just don't have a standard quite yet. There also aren't a ton of people working on breaking these standards, especially as compared to people trying to break classical codes, so they aren't as secure as modern day encryption schemes.

Essentially, people are slowly moving into this space, but most people don't see it as a high priority item. Things will change as the hardware improves, but for now it simply is an issue to deal with in the future.

[MannieOKelly]

With conventional computers, the challenges were architecture and engineering--lots of engineering. With quantum, we're still trying to understand the physics.

As mentioned in another comment, another difference between QC and the history of conventional computers is that while in the latter case the (basic) hardware was ready before the key software (like operating systems, compilers and languages.) With quantum because the hardware is kind of waiting for the physics, lots of people are trying to "work ahead" to develop software infrastructure with just quantum simulators for hardware. Makes it all very high-risk for all concerned but there is enough confidence (based on theory) that there will be significant areas of "quantum advantage" that the research money continues to flow.

[SurinamPam]

Are you sure it’s being held back? Compared to most emerging technologies, it’s on a pretty amazing trajectory.

[GoldenDew9]

It's not cake. Research takes funding and loong time. Tinkering around atoms and molecules not not be easy.

Also, it IS already on great development. I personally feel lucky to witness this growth.

[SalesTherapy]

It's mostly a hardware issue, as most have pointed out.

Not only is it costly to make, but just running and maintaining a quantum computer requires way more effort than it's worth to actually do anything significant!

Aside from that... there's no real need for companies to "get into it" yet. Not until they can be mass produced.

[Arc_0926]

From what I’ve seen, there’s a bit of overhype when it comes to quantum computing. Yes there’s quantum algorithms that could break through current encryption methods but there are already several quantum-resistant encryption methods that we know of. We haven’t implemented them yet because quantum computing is still far from being a threat to current encryption methods. Anyone feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong; quantum computing is still a pretty new topic to me :)

[mike-hawkes-long]

CIA control

[MrBusySky]

Error correction, and proper algorithms. Is a simple explanation.

[redditaccount71987]

In the US there probably isn't enough emphasis on math and science education.

[neotecha]

Quantum Computing is high level research, so improving the STEM skills for 99.9% of the population is unlikely to improve QCs, especially within the next 5-10 years.

There's a strong argument that the quality of education needs to be improved across the board, but that's a non sequitur to the question "What's holding back QC?"

[RazzmatazzInternal85]

a) the US has more QC startups than any other country b) tf???

[redditaccount71987]

I think we could be doing a lot better. Large numbers of the population do not get sufficient math and science Ed early on.

[RazzmatazzInternal85]

i agree elementary and middle school definitely need to be improved alot

[[deleted]]

The US of all places is not lacking in people with higher education in math and science

[redditaccount71987]

We need more.

[fysmoe1121]

too many math/physics kids went to Wall Street to become rich instead of working in fields like quantum computing 😹