The West is falling behind China in developing quantum supercomputers that have the potential to infiltrate security systems and develop new materials, the head of one of the industry’s leading companies has said.
Rajeeb Hazra, the chief executive of the Anglo-American tech company Quantinuum, warned that China was outspending Western countries two to one on quantum computing.
“I do remain concerned that for those countries that are underestimating it, they will fall behind,” Mr Hazra said, who added that China was already using the powerful technology to generate results.
Quantum computing involves deploying the peculiar mechanics of quantum physics to develop computers that are significantly more powerful than today’s most advanced, classical supercomputers. The technology has been an academic pursuit for decades, although it has recently led to increased national security concerns because of its potential to infiltrate encryption systems used to protect sensitive data.
Britain and other countries have already cracked down on the export of technologies related to quantum computing amid growing fears that China will gain an advantage, while Beijing is throwing billions in public funds at developing the technology.
“What is a little worrisome is not everybody has that same view of underestimation,” Mr Hazra said.
“There are nation states that are saying ‘this is the way to go in the future’ and there are some that are ignoring it or underestimating it, to the point that there is a disparity of investments across nation states.
“When you put a geopolitical kind of covering on that, there is a real chance of this underestimation hurting national security and even industrial security.
“China is out-investing the West, as we would call it, by almost two to one in quantum technology. And so I do remain concerned for those countries that are underestimating it. Any country that has not built an ability to have quantum computing as an essential part of its computing arsenal is going to fall behind.”
Quantinuum was formed in 2021 from a merger between Cambridge Quantum and the quantum division of the US industrial giant Honeywell.
The company was valued at $5bn (£3.7bn) earlier this year in an investment round led by JP Morgan and is considering an initial public offering that could value it at around $10bn.
Quantinuum is aiming for a machine that can carry out functions such as fully simulating chemical reactions by 2029, at which point quantum computers are expected to significantly speed up scientific research.
Last week, a G7 cyber expert group, which is chaired by the US Treasury and the Bank of England, warned the financial industry to prepare for the “impending threat” of quantum computing, saying they could bypass the cryptographic algorithms that secure financial transactions.
It said that while it may take a decade for quantum computing to be able to crack advanced encryption, companies need to start preparing now, and that adversaries may be harvesting data now so they can read it in the future.
The UK introduced new restrictions on quantum computing exports in March, adding the technology to a list of dual-use products that had military potential. The Biden administration is expected to follow soon.
Mr Hazra said the controls had not made it more difficult to develop quantum systems. “We take that as a sign that this technology is important,” he said. “We just have to be very cognisant of the constraints put on us.”
Mr Hazra indicated that the recent boom in artificial intelligence risked driving investment away from quantum. “There should be more thought put into how these two interact and get funded, so that one doesn’t become lopsided,” he said.
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