it ’ s not going to happen right away . And when we get near there , that ’ s when the technology that looks like magic to us today will really make progress .”
The ‘ proof of concept ’ era The technology has already made significant progress in the past decade . But “ we ’ re still in the proof of concept , or pilot , era ,” says Olivier Ezratty , co-founder of the Quantum Energy Initiative and a Paris-based technology consultant who specializes in quantum technologies . Ezratty and others say quantum computing is today where classical computers were in the 1950s or ’ 60s , when people saw the potential of the machines , but everyday use was decades away .
“ We ’ re not yet at a point where quantum computing brings value that exceeds what you can do with a classical computer ,” he says .
The quantum computing economy , in the meantime , is growing rapidly . By 2022 , the total of public and private investments had reached $ 35.5 billion globally , according to the World Economic Forum ( WEF ), although other estimates
“ We ’ re still in the proof of concept , or pilot , era . We ’ re not yet at a point where quantum computing brings value that exceeds what you can do with a classical computer .”
— Olivier Ezratty , co-founder , Quantum Energy Initiative
are more conservative . Research company Market Research Future has been tracking the space since 2016 , and Shubham Munde , its senior research analyst for the technology domain , says the worldwide enterprise quantum computing market is growing at a 31.3 % compound annual growth rate between 2022 and 2030 .
“ There are more than a hundred companies in research and development , with the United States leading the market , followed by European companies ,” Munde says .
A lot of the investment up until recently was in hardware platforms , according to the WEF , but not all companies are pursuing the same path . Currently , at least half a dozen technologies can be used to build the hardware , from superconducting qubits and trapped ions to photonic qubits and neutral atoms .
Each technology has its pros and cons , Buchholz says . For example , superconducting provides faster processing , but the qubits have a higher susceptibility to noise and require refrigeration to control , while ion traps work at room temperature and provide higher quality qubits but have lower connectivity and scalability .
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