In the race to build a workable quantum computer — a dream at the intersection of advanced physics and computer science since the 1980s — the finish line may be in sight. A spate of recent technical breakthroughs means that leading tech companies are vying to become the first to expand what until now have been a series of lab experiments into full-size, workable systems. In June, IBM became the latest to claim its path was now clear to a full scale machine, after publishing a blueprint for a quantum computer that filled in key missing pieces from its earlier designs. Quantum computers hold the potential to solve problems beyond today’s machines in fields such as materials science and AI. “It doesn’t feel like a dream anymore,” said Jay Gambetta, head of IBM’s quantum initiative. “I really do feel like we’ve cracked the code and we’ll be able to build this machine by the end of the decade.” That has intensified a race against Google, which cleared one of the biggest remaining hurdles late last year and says it is also on course to build an industrial-scale quantum computer by the end of the decade. “All the [remaining] engineering and scientific challenges are surmountable,” said Julian Kelly, head of hardware at Google Quantum AI. Yet even as they put some of the hardest science problems behind them and gear up for a sprint to the finish line, the companies still face a raft of more routine-sounding but still difficult engineering problems to industrialise the technology.

Full report : Recent breakthroughs have revived confidence about creating full-scale quantum systems by end of the decade.