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IBM Will Sell 50-Qubit Universal Quantum Computer In the Next Few Years (arstechnica.co.uk)
Months after laying the groundwork for offerings in emerging tech categories such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, IBM sees quantum computers as a big, if nascent, business opportunity. From a report on ArsTechnica: IBM will build and sell commercial 50-qubit universal quantum computers, dubbed IBM Q, "in the next few years." No word on pricing just yet, but I wouldn't expect much change from $15 million -- the cost of a non-universal D-Wave quantum computer. In other news, IBM has also opened up an API (sample code available on Github) that gives developers easier access to the five-qubit quantum computer currently connected to the IBM cloud. Later in the year, IBM will release a full SDK, further simplifying the process of building quantum software. You can't actually do much useful computation with five qubits, mind you, but fortunately IBM also has news there: the company's quantum simulator can now simulate up to 20 qubits. The idea is that developers should start thinking about potential 20-qubit quantum scenarios now, so they're ready to be deployed when IBM builds the actual hardware.
Asymmetric crypto using Diffie-Hellman. It's a problem a quantum computer can solve easily (compared to a classical one at least.) It's a big thing on the horizon in cryptography, and I wouldn't be surprised if state actors already possess the tech, or will soon. Definitely important enough to land a spot on the weapons ban list, at least.