In a presentation<\/a> for\u00a0MIT Data Center Day<\/a>, sponsored by the MIT Industrial Liaison Program<\/a>, Oliver made the case that quantum computing is actively transitioning from a scientific curiosity to a technical reality \u2014 an indicator that it\u2019s high time for organizations to dive in.\u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got to be in the game to play, and getting in the game is happening right now with quantum.<\/p>\n William Oliver \u201cAdvancing from discovery to useful machines takes time and engineering, and it\u2019s not going to happen overnight,\u201d said Oliver, a professor of physics and of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to be in the game to play, and getting in the game is happening right now with quantum.\u201d<\/p>\n Quantum defined<\/p>\n Quantum computing is a collection of sensing, networking, and processing technologies capable of performing functions that are either practically prohibitive or even impossible to accomplish with current techniques.<\/p>\n While a fully scaled quantum computer will outperform classical computers for certain problems, the technology is not a one-to-one replacement for classical computing.<\/p>\n 4 guidelines for advancing quantum computing<\/p>\n Getting in the game requires an understanding of both the possibilities quantum brings and the reality of the current and future landscape.<\/p>\n In his talk, Oliver shared four critical observations that can help leaders size up the market and identify what\u2019s necessary to accelerate quantum\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t write off classical computing.\u00a0Despite their promise, quantum computers will not replace conventional computers. Quantum is aimed at mathematically complex use cases in areas like cryptanalysis<\/a>, scientific computing (such as materials science and quantum chemistry), and optimization.<\/p>\n \u201cQuantum computers solve certain problems really well, but they\u2019re not going to replace Microsoft Word,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n Address the need for more quantum algorithms.\u00a0Many of the existing quantum algorithms have roots at MIT, including the hallmark algorithm developed by applied mathematics professor Peter Shor<\/a>. Shor\u2019s algorithm factors a large composite integer into its constituent prime numbers, with application to the cryptanalysis of today\u2019s ubiquitous RSA-type public-key cryptosystems.<\/p>\n More and different algorithms are also central to realizing what\u2019s called commercial quantum advantage \u2014 the benchmark of a quantum computer\u2019s ability to do something better than a classical computer can to solve a commercially relevant problem.<\/p>\n That is not yet a reality, Oliver said. \u201cThere are lots of problems I\u2019m aware of today where I don\u2019t know how to do it on a classical computer and I also don\u2019t yet know how to do it on a quantum computer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need more people thinking about the application space and writing those algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leading Technical Professionals and Teams<\/p>\n In person at MIT Sloan<\/p>\n Get information<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Implement post-quantum cryptosystems now. While quantum computing \u2014 and Shor\u2019s algorithm, specifically \u2014 has many people fretting over the potential for bad actors to use quantum to crack complex cryptographic systems, a cryptographically relevant machine is not yet available, Oliver said.<\/p>\n To break RSA encryption, public-key crypto systems would require a very large error-corrected quantum computer with millions of\u00a0qubits<\/a>, the processing power at the heart of quantum computing. That milestone is still a ways away, Oliver said.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, this is not a time to be complacent. \u201cWe need to start now to switch over to new post-quantum cryptographic systems that we believe will be immune to attack by a future quantum computer,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n Industry should move quickly toward\u00a0new cryptography standards<\/a> outlined by the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s National Institute of Standards and Technology that are designed to withstand attacks from a future quantum computer, he said. This would provide forward security.<\/p>\n Accelerate the development of quantum error correction. One of the biggest obstacles to quantum\u2019s success is the reliability of qubits. Qubits are faulty and fail after about 1,000 or 10,000 operations \u2014 nowhere near the stamina required to account for the billions, even trillions, of operations necessary to reach commercial quantum advantage.<\/p>\n The key to addressing the gap is quantum error correction \u2014 an emerging technology that drives better reliability for large-scale quantum use. In late 2024, Google Quantum AI announced that it had reached a milestone<\/a>, revealing that its Willow processor was the first quantum processor to have error-protected quantum information become exponentially more resilient as more qubits were added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need quantum error correction to make this all possible,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cWith the demonstration from Google last fall, we saw a major step in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch: Quantum Computing 101 \u2014 Foundations, Frontiers, and Future Impact<\/a><\/p>\n William Oliver<\/a> is the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of electrical engineering and computer science and a professor of physics at MIT. He serves as director of the Center for Quantum Engineering and as associate director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, and he is a principal investigator in the Engineering Quantum Systems Group at MIT.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oliver\u2019s research interests include the materials growth, fabrication, design, and measurement of superconducting qubits, as well as the development of cryogenic packaging and control electronics involving cryogenic CMOS and single-flux quantum digital logic.<\/p>\n The\u00a0MIT Industrial Liaison Program<\/a> is a membership-based program for large organizations interested in long-term, strategic relationships with MIT. The group engages with organizations from around the globe, in any sector, that are concerned with emerging research- and education-driven results that will be transformative.\u202fExecutive leadership who would like to learn more about the MIT Industrial Liaison Program and its MIT Startup Exchange are invited to send an email<\/a> with their name, title, organization name, and headquarters location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"open share links close share links What you\u2019ll learn: Four guidelines for advancing commercial quantum computing:\u00a0 Address the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[199,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-340963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-physics","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Director, MIT Center for Quantum Engineering<\/p>\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/genai-leader-sq.jpg\")
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