Tony Blair has said \u201chistory won\u2019t forgive us\u201d if the UK falls behind in the race to harness quantum computing, a frontier technology predicted to trigger the next wave of breakthroughs in everything from drug design to climate modelling.<\/p>\n
The former British Labour prime minister, whose thinktank and consultancy, the Tony Blair Institute, is backed by tech industry leaders including the Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, warned: \u201cThe country risks failing to convert its leadership in quantum research.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a report calling for a national strategy for quantum computing, Blair and William Hague<\/a>, a former Conservative party leader, compared the situation to the recent history of artificial intelligence, where the UK was responsible for important research breakthroughs but then ceded power to other countries, including the US, leading to a scramble to build \u201csovereign\u201d AI capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we have seen with AI, a strong research and development base is not enough: it is the countries that have the infrastructure and capital for scale that capture technology\u2019s economic and strategic benefits,\u201d they said. \u201cWhile the UK is home to the second highest number of quantum startups in the world, it lacks the necessary high-risk capital and infrastructure to scale those startups.\u201d<\/p>\n Quantum computing differs from classical computing in strange and mind-bending ways. In a standard computer, information is represented through transistors being on or off: ones or zeros. In quantum mechanics, things can be in multiple places at the same time. A transistor can be on and off at the same time, in a phenomenon known as quantum superposition.<\/p>\n The effect is to create such a massive increase in computing power that a single quantum computer could, in theory, take on a task that would require billions of the most powerful supercomputers. The science is not yet at a stage to prove useful on a widespread basis, but the potential for simulating molecular structures to create new materials and drugs is enormous. The value of quantum computing, when it arrives in a usable form, has been estimated<\/a> at nearly $1.3tn alone to the chemicals, life sciences, automotive and finance industries.<\/p>\n Fears centre on the potential for super-powerful quantum machines to break all encryption exposing national infrastructure to cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe quantum era will arrive whether Britain leads it or not,\u201d Blair and Hague said. \u201cBut history will not forgive us if we again fumble the chance to lead a transformative technology.\u201d<\/p>\n The warning comes after the Cambridge-educated Briton John Clarke won the 2025 Nobel prize in physics for his work into quantum computing science, and as UK quantum firms continue to be brought up by US companies.<\/p>\n In June, a spinout quantum company from Oxford University, Oxford Ionics, was sold for $1.1bn to the US company IonQ. Meanwhile, PsiQuantum, a spinout from Bristol University and Imperial College London, grew mostly in California after finding investors there most enthusiastic, and its first large-scale quantum computer will be built<\/a> in Brisbane, Australia.<\/p>\n A report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change critical of the UK\u2019s current quantum strategy warns that not only are China and the US \u201cracing ahead\u201d but Germany, Australia, Finland and the Netherlands are also making big strides.<\/p>\n A government spokesperson said: \u201cQuantum is a gamechanging technology with the potential to overhaul everything from healthcare, to our access to affordable clean energy. The UK already ranks second globally for quantum investment, and we have world-leading strengths in the supply chain in areas such as photonics \u2013 but we are determined to go further.<\/p>\n