1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Stephen Carol and 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: this is Here's Why, where we take one news story 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: and explain it in just a few minutes with our 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: experts here at Bloomberg. Move over, artificial intelligence. A new 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: technological game changer is coming. Quantum computing, its supporters say, 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: will deliver huge advancements and fields from drug development to 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: financial modeling. And that's why governments as well as some 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: of the world's biggest tech companies and venture capitalists are 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: pouring billions of dollars into them. 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 2: It's a totally different avenue. 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: It's not just supercomputers but better or AI but more powerful. 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 2: It's entirely different way of computing. 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: Quantum computing. 14 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 2: He's, without a dad, one of the top technologies that 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 2: the United States needs to lead. 16 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 3: If you suddenly lose that secrecy and that security, then 17 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 3: it causes all sorts of vulnerabilities on a personal level, 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 3: on a national level, from a security perspective, from a 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 3: commercial perspective, and so you know, this is a big, 20 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 3: big deal. 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: So here's why you need to understand quantum computing. Bloomberg 22 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: reporter Isabell Award is with me for more Isabella. First 23 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: of all, what is a quantum computer and how different 24 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: is it to the computers that we know today. 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 4: They are an emerging type of supercomputer which can solve 26 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 4: problems today's machines can't, and this is because they process 27 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,320 Speaker 4: information in an entirely different way, exploiting the quirks of 28 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 4: quantum mechanics, hence the name, which is the field of 29 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 4: physics which governs microscopic materials. I'll give you an example 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 4: of this difference in approach. Sarah was a traveling salesperson 31 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 4: and I wanted to sell my war his intensities, and 32 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 4: I wanted to use a computer to figure out the 33 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 4: most efficient order to visit these cities. In a normal 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 4: computer would one by one and then compare the three 35 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 4: hundred and sixty thousand odd possibilities, whereas a quantum computer 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 4: could simultaneously take all these routes into account and then 37 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 4: could return the likely best answer almost instantly. 38 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: Okay, so what can they be used for outside of 39 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: travel planning? 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 4: The age old optimization problem I just gave you does 41 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 4: have some useful logistical and transportation efficiency applications, but they 42 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 4: can also be used to simulate atomic behavior, which can 43 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 4: accelerate drug discovery or material development. They can also model 44 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 4: more complex systems with lots of dynamic interacting parts, you know, 45 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 4: be at the climate or be at the economy, and 46 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 4: across fields. They can enhance an expedite machine learning for 47 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 4: artificial intelligence. 48 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: So who are the big players involved in developing quantum 49 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: computers then, and crucially use putting money into it. 50 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 4: IBM have really led the charge here, but Aws, Microsoft, Alphabetics, 51 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 4: Google are all developing their own types of quantum chips 52 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 4: as well. 53 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 2: And it's not just big tech. 54 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 4: Startups including Raghetti and Honeywell's Continuum are also competitive as well. 55 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 4: As investors governments can vinced by the economic advantage that 56 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 4: these machines, posts have poured billions into building them, none 57 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 4: so much as China, who've invested fifteen billion US dollars 58 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 4: they say so far, which is more than triple than 59 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 4: any other country has. 60 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: So how far away are we from getting quantum computers 61 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,399 Speaker 1: into widespread use? They exist in some form already. 62 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, IBM at aiming for twenty thirty three for widespread use, 63 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 4: but some startups say that they're going to deliver useful 64 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 4: machines by the end of this decade. The challenge here 65 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 4: is that it's estimated that to have an actually useful 66 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 4: machine a quantum commuter needs to be tens of thousands 67 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 4: times larger than the current machines, and normally, because of 68 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 4: the very delicate nature of their microscopic building blocks, the 69 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 4: more you scale up, the more likely something is to 70 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 4: go wrong. 71 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 2: So that is really where Google actually broke ground. 72 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 4: In December, you might have had their Willow chip made 73 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 4: quite big news, not so much because of the size 74 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 4: of their chip, but because as they scaled up the 75 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 4: rate of errors was reduced. Still, even so, they say 76 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 4: that useful machine is several years away, but that show 77 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 4: of capability and actually being able to build these big 78 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 4: machines imminently drove a rally in quantum stocks. 79 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: When you say big machines, that makes me think that 80 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: it's pretty unlikely that we're going to end up with 81 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: quantum computers showing up in people's homes in the way 82 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: that we've become used to having personal computers. 83 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely right. 84 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 4: These are bulky, energy intensive, highly specialized machines that cost 85 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 4: tens of millions to build. 86 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 2: Quite a big house as well. Yeah, yeah, you're not 87 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 2: going to have a quantum laptop. 88 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 4: And actually even banks, for example, they won't have their 89 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 4: own quantum computers. Instead, it's more likely that researchers would 90 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 4: pay for run time on external machines. 91 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: So you mentioned banks there, I mean, what would a 92 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,799 Speaker 1: world with quantum computers do for say, the banking industry. 93 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 4: Across the board, research and development is going to be 94 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 4: revolutionized as kind of previously impossible problems become solvable. And 95 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 4: actually the banking industry is going to be one of 96 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 4: the earlier industries to fill this impact. 97 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 2: Just thinking of some examples. 98 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 4: You know, I mentioned simulation, Well, risk could be simulated 99 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 4: if far more detail. I mentioned optimization, Well, that could 100 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 4: apply to collateral and commercial banking, or derivative pricing, or 101 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 4: even portfolios in investment banking. And actually quantum algorithms have 102 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 4: already been developed to optimize the latter. 103 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: This really sounds like another massive technological revolution on the way. 104 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: Are there downsides or risks to this technology? 105 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 4: There are, like with any critical technology, if you know, 106 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 4: a user with malintent gets access. So the consequence of 107 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 4: their enormous compute is that in theory, hackers could use 108 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,919 Speaker 4: quantum computers to crack current cryptography and access sensitive data, 109 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 4: and experts do see this as likely to happen within 110 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 4: the next fifteen years or so. Of course, there's a 111 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 4: huge personal data implication here. You can imagine the chaos 112 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 4: that would be unleashed by accessing someone's Internet exchanges or 113 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 4: financial transactions, and we have seen firms like Apple or 114 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 4: telecoms companies take steps to protect users, but governments are 115 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 4: actually more concerned by the commercial threat here, the idea 116 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 4: that hostile states could steal intellectual property from foreign firms 117 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 4: and copy drugs technology, et cetera without having to spend 118 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 4: the billions on R and D in the process. So globally, 119 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 4: companies are already being urged to update their encryption now 120 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 4: in preparation for when these ultra powerful computers arrive. 121 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: Thanks to Bloomberg reporter is Abelle Award for more explanations 122 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: like this one from our team of twenty nine hundred 123 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: journalists and analysts around the world. Search for Quick Take 124 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: on the Bloomberg website or Bloomberg Business app. I'm Stephen Carol. 125 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: This is Here's why. I'll be back next week with more. 126 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.