- So why might classical computing
not continue to meet our needs?
What is driving our rapid movement
towards a next generation of computing power?
I've been involved in using and working with computers
for over 30 years.
In that time, processing speed has continued
to increase rapidly with each new generation of microchips.
The cost of computing has also rapidly dropped.
Just look at storage costs.
In the 1990s, a gigabyte was almost $100,000.
Today, it is less that 10 cents.
Software capability has empowered
remarkable new business models,
from on-demand mobility to global online commerce.
At no time have our expectations
of what technology can provide plateaued.
Moreover, our appetite for innovation has only increased.
I've come to expect, like you,
that computing technology will just continue to get faster,
better, and cheaper as time passes.
We're not yet near a time
when current capabilities will fail to meet our needs.
This is particularly true
in the consumer and enterprise space.
Today's computing continues to take us places
we didn't expect with fast, re-imagined,
and connected services.
Available on our ever-expanding number of devices.
A hyper-connected, data-driven planet though
doesn't stand still.
As every organization becomes
a technology organization at its core,
as more data is created, stored, and leveraged,
as software drives more solutions and computing intelligence
gets baked into everything,
as our ambition and confidence increases
to tackle our most intractable issues,
our needs are catching up with the capacity
for classical computing to deliver.
Here are a few specific examples of drivers
of a next generation of computing.
The first example is our need for better cybersecurity.
Old benefits of a digital connected world
have only increased the potential for security issues.
A day doesn't pass where we don't hear about
another significant security breach.
Cybersecurity technology is innovating quickly,
but bad actors are evolving quickly too.
Current approaches,
including widely adopted encryption technologies,
will eventually become less effective.
Ironically, it may be quantum computing
that eventually breaks current encryption techniques.
To insure a more secure, appropriately-scaled response
to our hyper-digital, connected future,
we'll require new approaches and new technology.
In it's absence, a lack of public trust will hinder progress
and may have limiting consequences,
such as burdensome regulation,
that we may later come to regret.
Quantum is poised to offer the kind of cybersecurity
that the future will demand.
Now the second example.
Our need to advance our understanding
of biology, physics, and chemistry.
While we've come a long way in understanding
our universe and our planet,
there's still much we don't understand.
Supercomputers are enabling us
to better understand molecule interactions,
but modeling takes time and has processing constraints.
Anticipating the weather
and more broadly understanding our climate over time
already tests the most advanced computers.
Drug research needs better performance capabilities
to design a new generation of treatments,
including the creation of personalized solutions.
A drug designed for a single individual
for their unique body and health issue.
Surprisingly, quantum computing may also be essential
to furthering our understanding of quantum computing
and the quantum mechanics space in general.
I know, that's very meta.
Researchers are excited about the possibilities
of this new technology helping to understand and advance
innovation in quantum itself.
And finally the third example, global competitiveness.
Can we possibly imagine a world
were one nation is powering forward
with significantly better computing power than others?
For example, could the United States
continue to rely on classical computing,
while China, Russia, and the European Union
rapidly make advances in computing
that is millions of times faster?
Today, an economy left behind in technological capability
will quickly struggle.
After all, the painful evidence of history
already proves this.
The promise of a new computing performance
is motivation enough for many countries to be in this race.
And in it they are, with quantum computing
nations big and small across the world
are investing heavily.
And many have made it national priority.