Overview
- Microsoft’s quantum chief Zulfi Alam says the company is confident machines with commercial value will run in data centers by 2029, executing calculations beyond classical systems.
- Vendors expect quantum to operate as a tightly coupled accelerator next to high‑performance classical computers, with data centers likely adopting specialized “quantum pods.”
- Investment is accelerating across hyperscalers, defense and governments, with ECIPE citing China near $18 billion in public funding and analysts noting a recent surge in M&A including IonQ deals.
- UBS reports a near‑term system could solve certain problems in 200 seconds that would take supercomputers 10,000 years, a speedup that could sharply cut energy needs for targeted workloads.
- Only a handful of quantum systems are in data centers today, and broader rollout will require bespoke engineering, shared standards, more specialized talent, and early moves to quantum‑safe encryption.