Growing Influence of Quantum Computing

Accelerating technical discoveries, increased investment flows, the proliferation of start-up companies, and promises of capable quantum systems by the year 2030 indicate that it is time for business leaders to begin planning their quantum-computing strategy.

Quantum technologies have the ability to bring game-changing reductions in medication development timelines as well as to limit global warming. This is one of the most intractable global concerns, and quantum technologies have the potential to address it.

In the second half of 2021, the proportion of investments in quantum that came from venture capital and other private capital entities increased, and they now account for more than 70 percent of investments (up from 50 percent in September 2021). This indicates that investors are becoming increasingly confident that the technology will produce profitable results.

The United States still receives the largest share of these private investments (49 percent) worldwide, followed by enterprises based in the United Kingdom (17 percent) and Canada (13 percent) (14 percent).

China only accounts for roughly 6 percent of the total private investments made in this sector to date.

With the announcement of an extra $1.9 billion in global public funding in the second half of 2021, the total amount of funding that has been announced for quantum technologies since 2001 has now reached around $31 billion.

Quantum computing continues to attract the most investment of the three primary areas of quantum technologies, with $3 billion raised by the end of 2021. This makes sense given that it also represents the largest potential market, which is estimated to be upwards of $90 billion annually by 2040.

Both quantum sensing and quantum communications saw an upsurge in investment activity during the second half of 2021, with total investment amounts reaching $400 million and $700 million, respectively (compared to totals of $300 million and $600 million during the previous six-month period).

We find that the government in the United States is more inclined than private investors to fund initiatives in these areas; nonetheless, more than half of public funding in the United States is committed to quantum computing, with the remaining funding going to quantum sensing and communications together.

We witnessed a huge increase in the number of new quantum computing start-ups being established during the second half of 2021, with an additional 15 new companies entering the market.

As the first quantum computing start-up company to ever go public, one company alone made history.

Additionally, tech incumbents continued to expand their cooperation efforts in this sector with the goal of bringing end-to-end solutions to the market.

One of the most prominent companies in the world of technology, for instance, collaborated with a provider of software for quantum computing to create integrated hardware and software solutions.

The hardware industry has grown saturated as a result of around 65 percent of quantum investments, raising the bar for newcomers to overcome in order to enter the market.

In spite of the amount invested, hardware is still not mature enough to enable a substantial number of use cases, which limits the prospects for new software companies.

It's possible that investors are showing a preference for more established start-ups, which further dampens activity.

The majority of the investment, which accounts for ninety percent, is allocated to companies in series A, B, C, and D, which restricts the amount of capital available to enterprises just getting started.