What are quantum computers and why are they the most expensive technology in the world?

For most users, daily contact with technology is limited to regular computers, smartphones and similar devices, leaving quantum computing as an elusive concept, almost taken from a work of science fiction.

Few people realize the challenges and costs associated with developing and operating them Quantum computerswhose potential to change the world is as enormous as the investment required to make it a reality. Suffice it to say that those with the least capacity cost $8,700.

Quantum computers are advanced technological devices that use properties Quantum mechanics To perform calculations. Unlike classical computers, which use bits in specific states of 0 or 1 to process information, quantum computers use qubits.

The bit is the basic unit of information in computing and information theory. Its name comes from the English contraction of “binary number”. A bit can have only one of two possible values, which is usually represented as 0 or 1.

Imagine that you want to store information about whether a lamp is on or off using a computer. With a single bit, you can represent these two states. If we set the value 0 to indicate that the light is “off” and the value 1 to indicate that it is “on,” we would only need that one bit to store that information.

Imagine that you are trying to find the fastest route between two points on a map that contains multiple possible paths. On a traditional computer, this problem would require analyzing each path individually, one by one, to determine which is the fastest.

With a quantum computer, thanks to qubits and their ability to exist in multiple states at once thanks to superposition, you can evaluate multiple paths at the same time.

If we represent each possible path as a different state of a qubit system, a quantum computer with an appropriate number of qubits could process all of these states in parallel.

Qubits themselves, as a concept or units of information in quantum computing, do not have a directly assignable economic value in the same way as physical goods or currencies.

However, the development, production and implementation of quantum computer and qubit technologies involve significant economic investments and have significant economic value.

To give you an idea, Chinese company SpinQ Technology invented a small quantum computer that contains 2 qubits and costs $8,700.

In addition to the development and production of qubits, there are several factors that contribute to the high cost of quantum computers:

• Extreme coolingQuantum computers require an extremely low temperature environment, close to absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius), to function properly. This is because qubits are highly vulnerable to interference from the environment, and any kind of thermal fluctuation can change their state.
• Interference isolation: To preserve the quantum coherence of qubits and avoid coherence loss (loss of quantum information), quantum computers must be isolated from any kind of environmental interference, such as magnetic fields, radiation, and vibrations.
• Research and Development (R&D)Quantum computing is a field at the frontiers of scientific and technological knowledge. It requires huge investments in research and development to explore, understand and develop fundamental physics, as well as to design and build quantum computer architectures. R&D costs are significant, and include not only hardware development but also quantum algorithm and software development.

The economic value of qubits lies in their potential to enable quantum computers that can, in theory and in the future, solve complex problems much faster than classical computers.

Quantum computers could have various applications in areas such as cryptography, system optimization, and the development of new materials and medicines. Through precise molecular simulation, among others, which can have enormous economic and social impacts.