The Energy Department launches $215 million push to make quantum computers scientifically useful by 2028

The U.S. Department of Energy is launching a $215 million competition to build quantum computers that are usable in scientific research. Officials are hopeful that early versions of such machines could be operational as soon as 2028. While ordinary computers famously store data as binary digits that can take on a value of either zero or one, quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to store quantum bits, or qubits, that can take on more complex states. That means they can theoretically solve complex problems involving cryptography, the simulation of intricate biological and engineering processes, financial modeling, and potentially artificial intelligence and machine learning orders of magnitude faster than classical computers. But so far, the devices have been more the subject of scientific experimentation than useful tools in their own right. They’re generally difficult to build and sensitive to outside interference, often requiring components to be kept at temperatures close to absolute zero to avoid altering qubit data. The DOE’s Quantum Genesis Q Competition challenges applicants to deliver what the department calls “the world’s first fault-tolerant scientifica…