Artificial intelligence commands the attention of corporate giants and political leaders but a global race is underway to develop what some experts consider the next transformative technology: quantum computing.
The computers, which draw on theoretical physics, could drive advances in everything from drug research to stock investing to encryption, promising an economic boon for the companies and nations that lead its development, some experts told ABC News.
Google, Microsoft and Intel are among the companies trying to achieve breakthroughs in quantum computing. Tech firm IBM announced on Friday its first-ever quantum computer on a university campus, unveiling the machine at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, which is located in Troy, New York.
Here’s what to know about how quantum computing works, why the technology matters and what’s significant about the new machine at RPI:
What is quantum computing?
Quantum computing uses the principles of abstract physics to supercharge a machine’s computational horsepower well beyond what’s found in an everyday computer.
The next-generation technology stands in contrast with classical computing, or binary computing, which relies on tiny units of data called bits. Those bits are oriented as either ones or zeroes, indicating on/off switches that make up the basic inputs of any task performed by a computer.
On the other hand, quantum computing draws on a fundamental concept of quantum physics known as “superposition,” which means a single entity can occupy multiple states at the same time, Daniel Lidar, a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California, told ABC News.
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