![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QU_CHIP_01_-20d2.gif\")
\n\t\tIt\u2019s ok to be confused, every expert told Metro (Picture: Getty\/Metro)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tIt\u2019s ok to be confused, every expert told Metro (Picture: Getty\/Metro)<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve heard the word \u2018AI<\/a>\u2019 at least two dozen times today. Whether you wanted to or not.<\/p>\n The technology is in our phones<\/a>, our fridges and even our toilets<\/a>.<\/p>\n But AI has an expiration date<\/a> \u2013 and tech giants Google, Microsoft<\/a> and IBM are already planning on the next big thing.<\/p>\n Quantum computing. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry if you\u2019ve never heard of it \u2013 31% think it\u2019s the stuff of science fiction, a recent survey by security firm Thales <\/a>found.<\/p>\n But as experts told Metro, it\u2019s real and it\u2019ll be here sooner than you think.<\/p>\n Wait, what is quantum computing?<\/p>\n A quantum computer is a powerful experimental computer.<\/p>\n They already exist<\/a>, but scientists haven\u2019t finessed them yet, partly because of the bizarre way they work.<\/p>\n Quantum computer chips harness the groovy power of quantum mechanics, or how the tiniest things in the universe, like atoms, act.<\/p>\n When these particles are cooled to -273.15\u00b0C, chillier than space, they act strangely. Randomness and uncertainty rule and things can be everywhere and nowhere all at once.<\/p>\n Confused? Charina Chou, director of Google Quantum AI, doesn\u2019t blame you.<\/p>\n \u2018When I set my phone down, I know it\u2019s going to stay in that place,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \u2018But when an electron goes around an atom, it\u2019s in multiple places at once. It\u2019s not just in place A, but place A and place B.\u2019<\/p>\n This is what quantum computers exploit so they can \u2018think\u2019 very quickly.<\/p>\n Computers perform calculations by crunching \u2018bits\u2019 of information. Each bit is one or a zero.<\/p>\n The offline world isn\u2019t made up of ones and zeroes, though, it\u2019s quantum, and computers don\u2019t speak its gnarly language. <\/p>\n So scientists invented the quantum bit, or qubit, which is one and zero. One qubit is the same as two bit\u2026 bits.<\/p>\n Chou says qubits can be made from all sorts of exotic materials, like light particles<\/a> or metals that act otherworldly when super-cold, called superconductors<\/a>. Each has pros and cons.<\/p>\n Microsoft even invented a new state of matter <\/a>to power its chip which, when cooled, acts in ways that a solid, liquid or gas never would.<\/p>\n Still, quantum chips can only pack 100 qubits, when the goal is 100,000. <\/p>\n Zulfi Alam, corporate vice president at Microsoft, says that the pay-off will be big.<\/p>\n \u2018If I forgot the combination of my bike lock and used a classical computer to help, it would check every combination, one at a time,\u2019 he explains. <\/p>\n \u2018A quantum computer would be able to test many combinations at once and then pick the right one.\u2019<\/p>\n So, what could I use a quantum computer for?<\/p>\n \t\t Sadly, it won\u2019t help you stream Netflix shows faster.<\/p>\n Jason Soroko, a senior fellow at Sectigo<\/a>, says you won\u2019t have a quantum phone or quantum washing machine.<\/p>\n \u2018What people will actually encounter is invisible,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n \u2018The batteries in cars, the drugs in medicine cabinets, the fertilisers behind food and the materials in buildings will have been designed with help from quantum simulation and the user will never know it happened.\u2019<\/p>\n Quantum computing could also understand cancer<\/a> on a teeny-tiny molecular level, so doctors could create targeted treatments.<\/p>\n \u2018A person might feel like they\u2019ve got a growing lump. But underneath all of that can be completely different things at the molecular scale,\u2019 Chou adds.<\/p>\n \t\t Another big draw, of course, is that quantum computing can help us understand the quantum world.<\/p>\n In March, IBM used one to decode the structure of a new molecule<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Quantum computers have the potential to illuminate parts of the universe that are currently far beyond the reach of even our most advanced classical simulations,\u2019 Ivano Tavernelli, a quantum computing application researcher at IBM Research Zurich<\/a>, says.<\/p>\n Scientific mysteries \u2013 like why there\u2019s barely any of matter\u2019s wacky twin, antimatter<\/a>, or what ghostly speck neutrinos actually are \u2013 could be solved.<\/p>\n \u2018Quantum computers could help us probe parts of the universe we have never seen,\u2019 Tavernelli adds.<\/p>\n A quantum chip by Google, called Willow<\/a>, is being used <\/a>by King\u2019s College London to study quantum things far too hard for our ape brains.<\/p>\n \t\t Sorry, the video was not found<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all about curing cancer.<\/p>\n Quantum computers can do gazillions of calculations. In 2024, Willow completed a math problem in five minutes<\/a> that would take supercomputers 10septillion years \u2013 24 zeros, older than the universe.<\/p>\n These impossible codes are what governments and banks use to encrypt data, so security experts are worried quantum<\/a> could crack them.<\/p>\n When could it happen?<\/p>\n Soon. Microsoft\u00a0expects to achieve a scalable quantum computer by 2029<\/a>, cutting its original timeline in half.<\/p>\n \u2018I see the future of computing as hybrid, where quantum technologies work alongside AI and high-performance computing,\u2019 adds Alam.<\/p>\n Chou expects the same. <\/p>\n \u2018Think to the 1940s, when we had these gigantic computers, nobody back then could have imagined your phone,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n \u2018Quantum will be similar to that.\u2019<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"quantum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_281697403-3924.jpg\")
\n\t\tWhat experimental quantum computers look like at the moment (Picture: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/PRI_86068505-b92c.jpg\")
\n\t\tQubits\u00a0are fussy, so are kept inside dilution refrigerators that act as Thermos bottles (Picture: Erik Lucero\/Google )<\/p>\n![\"Majorana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_304503544-e47f.jpg\")
\n\t\tThis little square, Microsoft\u2019s Majorana 2, can do some serious calculations (Picture: John Brecher)<\/p>\n![\"EMBARGOED](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_222763827-17bc.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe government has also backed a few quantum projects (PIcture: Stefan Rousseau\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_304502736-aad5.jpg\")
\n\t\tDr Eleanor Crane (left) is part of the team (Picture: King\u2019s College London)<\/p>\n
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