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Building a Practical Quantum Computer


quantum computer concept, illustration

Credit: Getty Images

Researchers have speculated about quantum computation for decades, but recent years have seen steady experimental advances, as well as theoretical proofs that it can efficiently do things that classical computing devices cannot. The field is attracting billions of dollars from governmental research agencies and technology giants, as well as startups. Conventional companies also are exploring the potential impact of quantum computing.

Despite this excitement, including successful sensing devices, quantum computing has not made practical contributions. Moreover, there is still no winner among very different schemes to physically implement quantum bits, or qubits. None of them is 'good enough' yet to achieve supercomputer-scale calculations, and they all face major barriers to low error rates and large device counts.


Comments


Aswani Kumar Cherukuri

While building a enterprise level QC is a long way to go, it is the coordinated efforts from both academia and industry can reduce the timeline.


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