(SCMP) South China Morning Post editorial opens with “China, the United States and the European Union are pulling out all the stops to master a technology that will not only transform computers, but also the world as we know it.”
Quantum computing has the potential to be faster and more powerful by many orders of magnitude than the greatest supercomputer in existence. No wonder China, the US and the European Union – three of the world’s largest economies – are competing fiercely for this hi-tech holy grail.
Free Enterprise VS. State-Planned Tech Development
The American government is not content to leave it all to free enterprise. At least two federal initiatives are under way to streamline and coordinate private and public research in quantum computing and other quantum-related projects.
China’s 13th five-year plan launched a “megaproject” for quantum communications and computing. State researchers now work with large private internet companies to develop the nascent technology for government, defence, business and industry.