What If I Can’t Afford A Quantum Computer (2024)

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Quantum computers are no science fiction anymore. They are reality.

Google already claimed quantum supremacy in 2019 — their quantum computer solved a task in 200 seconds a classical computer would need 10,000 years for. Even though IBM countered one of their (classical) supercomputers could solve the same problem in less than three days, it is still an impressive speedup.

But if two tech giants battle for whose devices prove quantum supremacy first, chances are poor to find a quantum computer for sale at your local retailer. So, even they do exist, unless you have a few million dollars you don’t need, you won’t be able to buy a quantum computer today.

At the same time, quantum computing is one of the most promising technologies. It is a technology you may want to start learning today rather than tomorrow.

So, what can you do?

Of course, the cloud! Everything is in the cloud, today. There are quite a few cloud providers offering quantum computing resources.

First and foremost, there is IBM. IBM offers free access to their quantum computers in the IBM cloud. Currently, the largest quantum computer they allow you to use is a 27 qubit computer.

The problem is that you have to wait for a free slot. Sometimes, it takes hours for your circuit to run.

Second, there is Google. Google provides access to quantum computing hardware based on their Quantum Computing Service. But access is currently only granted to those on an approved list. Furthermore, they don’t specify the size of the hardware.

The third player is Amazon. Amazon does not develop its own hardware. But they provide access to other manufacturer’s hardware, such as Rigetti. They have an Aspen-8 quantum computer with 32 qubits in their portfolio. The downside is that you have to pay for every single execution and every single shot.