By the end of 2024, even casual observers of technology headlines could see the excitement building around quantum computing–a technology that represents a fundamental shift in how we process information, applying quantum physics to solve problems far beyond the reach of even the most powerful classical computers.

Among numerous other developments, in March 2024, Quantinuum announced a breakthrough in the ability to build a large-scale quantum computer. A month later, at the Quantum World Congress, IBM, Microsoft, and Boeing all announced major developments in their quantum research. Capping off the year, in December, Google unveiled its Willow processor, hailed as a significant achievement in the journey toward practical quantum computing. Mainstream enthusiasm was accelerating.

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Then came January, and the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on stage, in a room full of reporters, that he didn’t anticipate “very useful” quantum computing for another 15 to 30 years. Three months later, in front of a gathering of quantum leaders, he issued a course correction, but there was no doubt his commentary........

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