Donald Trump has signed an executive order to accelerate the development of quantum computers in an effort to supercharge scientific discoveries
The US president was joined at the White House by tech leaders from Google and IBM on Monday, with the order described as a “big step forward” in the race with China for a technology that could upend science and cyber security.
White House Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios said the order “calls for the development of the first-ever quantum computer powerful enough for scientific research, initiating a new era of commercial capabilities”, adding that it will be ready by 2028.
Quantum computing has the potential to be orders of magnitude more powerful than the world’s best supercomputers due to their radical design.
By replacing traditional bits – the ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’ used to store and transfer digital data – with quantum bits, called qubits, the machines make use of a quantum phenomena known as superposition to exist in two states at once.
This allows each qubit to serve as both a ‘one’ and a ‘zero’ simultaneously, so that each one added makes them exponentially more powerful than their traditional counterparts.
The complexity of their design and operation means that scientists continue to struggle to realise their utility for practical tasks.
Their vast power compared to today’s super computers mean they could unscramble the encryption that protects computers from hacking, raising fears of aggressive cyber attacks.
Trump also signed a second executive order on Monday which seeks to protect government computers against quantum computer-fueled cyber attacks.
The order sets a goal of migrating key government computing systems to post-quantum `cryptography by 2030 or 2031.
The executive orders underscore the importance the Trump administration places on securing US leadership in the quantum race against China – which could fuel advances in artificial intelligence, materials science and chemistry – while also protecting against the cyber security threats posed by the technology.
The order also calls for the `Pentagon to deploy quantum sensors by 2028. Such sensors can help aircraft navigate in war zones where global positioning systems have been disrupted and, when put in satellites, could also be used to detect underground activity such as the construction of tunnels or missile silos from space.
“There’s lots of interesting things quantum sensing can bring before quantum computing," said Matthew Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion, who attended the signing of the order in the Oval Office. "It's possible to meet these types of timelines.”
Last month, the Commerce Department announced it would take $2 billion in equity stakes across nine quantum-computing companies, including a new IBM venture.
One of the orders also aims to strengthen international cooperation on `intellectual property protections and supply chain security measures "in light of competitors and adversaries looking to undermine US economic and national security," Kratsios said.
Another measure included in the package instructs agencies to develop plans for deploying quantum-enabled sensors and networks in the next five years.
Kratsios said: “Together, these policies will drive transformational growth in existing and entirely new industries, in manufacturing, drug discovery, energy, agriculture, and more quantum breakthroughs mean innovation, economic growth, national security that will benefit the American people for decades to come.”
Additional reporting from agencies.
