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Quantum computing: it’s a crying shame, but for the moment, it’s pie in the sky
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s prediction at CES that quantum computing is perhaps two decades away has spread panic in the markets, driving down the share price of companies like IonQ and Rigetti Computing.
Rightly considered a visionary who steadfastly steered the company he founded to become one of the world’s most valuable, ignoring the doomsayers who questioned the course he charted along the way, he is, without a doubt, one of the brightest stars in the computing firmament. But suddenly, he has set the cat among the pigeons with his comments:
“If you said fifteen years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said thirty, it’s probably on the late side. But if you picked twenty, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it.”
Given that he provides little evidence, Huang’s prediction is certainly open to debate. Nevertheless, the fact that somebody in his position does not expect anything useful from quantum technology before 15 years and possibly up to 30, makes it clear what the real expectations of the majority of the industry are with respect to a technology that…