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Diraq Group’s Andrew Dzurak has big plans for where their quantum computing technology could lead. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n Diraq Group’s Andrew Dzurak has big plans for where their quantum computing technology could lead. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
A quantum computer powered by a chip no bigger than a postage stamp could get life-saving drugs to patients in record time.<\/p>\n
Australian tech company Diraq has recently installed the country’s first quantum computer inside a commercial data centre in Sydney.<\/p>\n
Quantum computing is different from a traditional supercomputer and is designed to operate on problems where possible solutions can grow exponentially, such as in molecular science.<\/p>\n
While the Diraq computer is a prototype, company chief executive Andrew Dzurak has big plans for where the technology could lead.<\/p>\n
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\n Quantum computers can work on problems with a fraction of the resources of conventional computers. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
“The molecules we have in our body or in pharmaceuticals … cannot be calculated with conventional computers,” Mr Dzurak told AAP.<\/p>\n
“A quantum computer is able to solve those problems with a fraction of the resources.<\/p>\n
“We’re not talking about a factor of five or a factor of 10, we’re talking about factors of millions in terms of efficiency.”<\/p>\n
Pharmaceutical companies spending billions on finding and testing possible treatments could save a lot of time and money with the help of Diraq’s computer, Mr Dzurak believes.<\/p>\n
But where the computer is housed is equally as interesting for the future viability of big tech – and local resistance to it.<\/p>\n
The Diraq machine is housed in a facility in Alexandria owned by the world’s largest data centre company, US-based Equinix.<\/p>\n
Security is so tight at the facility it requires going through five separate fingerprint scanners to access Diraq’s cage in the centre.<\/p>\n
The quantum computer – particularly Diraq’s silicon-based model – has many advantages over the power-hungry and space-consuming technology used for artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
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\n The Diraq machine is housed under tight security at a facility in Sydney. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
The machine is powered off a standard-sized silicon semiconductor, similar to the ones used in most modern electronics.<\/p>\n
This allows the unit to be quite small compared with AI data racks and can be housed in a cylindrical refrigeration unit roughly the size of a home hot-water heater.<\/p>\n
Power and water usage are also a fraction of a traditional data centre, meaning quantum computing is largely immune from many of the well-publicised criticisms of data centres in built-up areas.<\/p>\n
But there is still an advantage for Mr Dzurak being inside the tent of the world’s other transformational tech.<\/p>\n
“Quantum processors, AI systems and high-performance (supercomputers) … all of these will work together on solving problems,” Mr Dzurak said.<\/p>\n
“It just makes a lot of sense to have them all integrated together in one location.”<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Mr Dzurak hopes that Diraq will sell thousands of quantum computers to all manner of industries by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
“We are pretty confident when we build our systems and prove they work, we can’t be beaten on price.”<\/p>\n