BBVA Cautions Against ‘Impatience’ With Quantum Computing’s Development TimeLine

(BBVA.blog) Samuel Fernández Lorenzo, who works with BBVA’s New Digital Business (NDB) leading research into quantum algorithms “What is relevant is that quantum technology is now beginning to mature enough to be able to compete with classical computing, at least in certain specific tasks.”
He points out that the term “quantum supremacy” lends itself to misinterpretation outside technical fields: “It was a term coined by a professor at the California Institute of Technology, John Preskill, to refer to the time when we would be able to build a quantum processor that would be capable of performing a particular task that a classic computer could not execute in a reasonable amount of time.” He stresses that, even if this event has been achieved, it does not come close to implying that a quantum computer is more appropriate or otherwise better to use for any task than a traditional computer.
BBVA’s Lorenzo Says “We Need to Wait Patiently for Full Splendor of Quantum Computing
Quantum computing could have a strong impact on banking. “There are a lot of financial problems related to investment strategy optimization, which involves researching a huge number of possible portfolio combinations to find the one that best fits specific criteria. A quantum computer can help during this exploratory task and provide us with investment options that are better than those calculated by classic methods,” the researcher explains.
Fernández Lorenzo argues that the main challenge facing this technology resides at the level of engineering, “because it is very difficult to build larger and large, better quality processors.” Moreover, there is the problem of ‘impatience:’ “Nobody today seems to question that artificial intelligence has the impressive potential to transform our society and our economy. All the same, this domain has required a minimum of four decades to get where we are today. With quantum computing we envision a challenge of the same magnitude. We will need to wait patiently for some years before we can fully appreciate the full splendor of the quantum computing era.”