(Reuters) The Biden administration will convene a forum October 5 that is focused on quantum technologies as the U.S. government works to head off hacking threats and corner a burgeoning growth industry. President Joe Biden’s administration is especially focused on the national security implications of quantum technology, which promises the ability to easily crack encryption standards in use today.
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is hosting the event that will discuss critical applications of quantum computing, which is expected to operate millions of times faster than today’s advanced supercomputers.
China, which Washington regards as its chief rival abroad, has also made significant efforts to develop the technology.
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) are expected to join the event.
Boeing Co (BA.N), Honeywell International Inc , International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) are also expected to attend, according to an administration spokesperson.
The White House meeting will also include the organizations ColdQuanta, D-Wave, IonQ, QC Ware, Quantum Economic Development-Consortium, Rigetti Computing, Vector Atomic and Zapata.
“There’s a lot of excitement about quantum computers and quantum sensors, and there’s some hype associated with that,” said Charlie Tahan, assistant director for quantum information science at OSTP.
Congress has already funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into the industry, including quantum research laboratories, and bills currently under consideration now could add billions more.