The American market research company “Markets in Research” estimates that the quantum computing market amounted to about $395 million in 2021, and “Bloomberg” expects this value to jump to more than five billion dollars by 2030.

The American research company “Tech Target” did not rule out The market also expects this technology to turn into a “disruptive factor” in the field of computing once it matures, as startup companies conducting research in this regard are proliferating around the world, but most experts expect that years will pass before quantum computing bears practical results.

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The first quantum computer dates back to 2011 and was produced by D-Wave Systems, and released by IBM. Its version, Quantum System One, was released in 2019, and it was followed by the largest quantum computer to date, Osprey, in November 2022.

While companies are still hesitant to make or own a quantum computer, companies such as Amazon and… Microsoft online quantum computing services. The reason for the hesitation is the cost: a commercial quantum computer consisting of 50 qubits could cost up to $10 million.

Quantum computers still include classical computers that operate them and send instructions to them. They require a lot of energy to operate and cool.

Superior capabilities

Quantum computers are characterized by their amazing speed compared to their classical counterparts (such as analyzing financial data), their ability to process complex operations (such as performing many complex calculations at the same time), their ability to run complex simulations (such as simulating interactions between molecules), and their promise of achieving quantum leaps.

Artificial intelligence

In the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it still suffers from problems, as any disturbance in the system may cancel the entire process, and qubits are still unable to automatically correct errors, unlike bits, and the output data is still vulnerable to corruption upon receipt, but new technologies have begun to address this problem.

The latter. Other new technologies that have emerged from extensive research in recent years solve problems such as the security of quantum computers and storing the information generated from them.

Like any emerging technology, quantum computing still provides opportunities and raises risks, but research can solve the problems.

Quantum computers

As we enter the era of so-called big data, where the amount of data we have to store grows, there is a widespread expectation that quantum computers will be able to solve intractable problems due to the sheer volume of input data.

Quantum computing is of great importance in chemical and biological engineering, which includes the discovery and modification of molecules, which includes movement and interaction on the scale of objects smaller than atoms.

The quest to understand what is happening at this precise level is what prompted the American Richard Feynman, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with his compatriot Julian Schwinger and the Japanese Shinichiro Tomonaga in 1965 thanks to their research in quantum physics, to propose the idea of ​​creating a quantum computer capable of simulating that movement and that interaction. .

The new technology is also important in cryptography, which many attribute its foundation to the “Book of Cryptography” by Al-Khalil bin Ahmed Al-Farahidi in the eighth century. Encryption combines words, as Al-Farahidi suggested, but quantum computing may make decryption much easier compared to classical computers.

New areas in artificial intelligence

A computer that supports and accelerates the processing of huge amounts of data is required to develop artificial intelligence, and quantum computing will open new areas in this field, making the development faster and more efficient.

In financial services, specialized companies are working hard to develop simulation cases that enable predicting price trends for specific financial products, and quantum computing promises to facilitate and improve this, as in addition to the speed of data processing, it can receive much larger data, which enhances the chances of hitting predictions.

The same is true of huge data resulting from manufacturing processes, especially the manufacturing of microchips, which are shrinking in size and the data they carry is increasing day after day, and their manufacturing requires many complex steps.

A quantum computer consists

A quantum computer consists of hardware and software, similar to its classical counterpart. The device includes a quantum data plane, which is the heart of the computer and includes the qubits and the structures needed to maintain them, and a control and measurement plane, which converts digital signals into analog signals that operate on the qubits.

On the surface of quantum data, quantum software applies certain quantum algorithms to perform quantum logical operations on qubits.

It is expected that quantum computers will have different applications in different sectors, but it is difficult to imagine what the world will be like when this new technology comes to fruition.

However, when we remember how classical computers changed the face of the world, it is not an exaggeration to say that quantum computers will revolutionize, especially since researchers in the field expect that these computers will be able to perform millions of calculations at the same time.

Impact

It will certainly impact the ways we create new drugs and materials, protect our data, explore space, and predict weather and climate change.

Revolution…questions and challenges

Will we need to establish controls and rules to ensure these aspects of justice, fairness, inclusion, and responsibility in the areas of environment, society, governance, and human rights in relation to quantum computing?

The new technology also promises to provide unprecedented cyber defenses, but it also threatens to unleash new capabilities in the field of cyber hacking.

On the other hand, quantum computing promises to develop voting, crisis and resource management, and enhance government programs seeking to provide digital identities for citizens, each of which covers their different rights and duties (voting rights and duties to pay taxes).

As research into quantum computing continues and accelerates, it may be time to anticipate the maturity of this technology by searching for improvements and the problems that will arise from it, through discussions between various parties concerned, such as scientists, policymakers, leaders of economic sectors, civil society organizations, and public opinion.

 Futurists and believers in globalization hope that quantum computers will enable achieving the sustainable development goals that the United Nations hopes to achieve by 2030 and the goals of zero carbon emissions by 2050.