“It is hard to predict when the world will go crazy,” he says of his belief that #quantum will follow the #AI path, with billions invested to secure an impregnable position and #UK companies becoming #AcquisitionTargets.

There are already signs of this happening, with #Oxford #Ionics being acquired for $1.1bn by the US company #IonQ in June.

#QuantumComputers use #QuantumBits, or #qubits, to solve problems exponentially faster than classical computers but they are still prone to mounting errors.

This prevents them from reaching their full potential to #model new #materials for fields such as #medicine and #SolarPower, or master highly complex #calculations.

Rather than trying to build quantum computers themselves, UK #startups such as #Phasecraft, spun out of the #UniversityOfBristol and #UniversityCollegeLondon in 2019, and #Riverlane, which emerged from #CambridgeUniversity in 2016, have focused on the #algorithms and #software needed for the machines to work.”

<https://archive.md/smCSj> / <https://www.ft.com/content/c691caf6-3a54-440a-97dd-61fb0b6b0848> (paywall)