We are quickly approaching an era of fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC), a technological leap that will be more socially and financially transformative than even our current advances in artificial intelligence. To ensure America leads this technology, a Manhattan Project 2.0. is needed. And on May 21, President Trump and Secretary of Commerce Lutnick announced nine letters of intent to execute investment deals between the Department of Commerce and both companies building quantum computers and quantum foundries. These firms, with support from the U.S. government, are key to advancing American leadership in quantum technologies, and hopefully ensure the first FTQC is built by an American company, on American soil.
FTQC is a step-change in computational capability akin to the change in going from a bottle rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy booster. This computational advance will shape the balance of global economic and military power over the next century. FTQC stands to enable entirely new therapeutics via simulations of molecular interactions, materials scientists to identify and create new synthetic properties for aerospace and transportation, grid operators to identify and extract greater energy efficiency, and military strategists to map, plan, and identify threats with unrivaled precision.
