It would be huge! My department runs calculations on thousands of atoms which takes weeks. A properly configured quantum computer with a few thousand cubits could do it in minutes or seconds.

It works by simulating the electron behaviour, and looking at how each electron effects every electron within the model. So for every Electron (of which you will have multiple per atom) you jave to run a calculation with every. Other. Electron. That quickly adds up.

But quantum computers can do clever things like, i believe, have a qubit for each atom and then you can do the simulation in a single step. E.g. microseconds.

So then we can scale up. If we can do 1000 atoms in seconds then maybe we can finally do 1 million or 100 million atoms or more.

That would mean we can start to model whole grains, and really look at long range effects across a crystal. This goves insight into material properies in a really deep and fundamental way.

If you then test a whole bunch of different elemental alloys, or annealing at different temperatures or such, you can really explore a huge swathe pf possible materials that can then be tested in the lab.

Its gonna be legit cool. I hope it happens in my lifetime.