Quantum expert Ching-Ray Chang, a distinguished professor of physics at National Taiwan University (NTU), believes that quantum computing is already here, refuting a previous statement by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that it is still another 20 years away.
IBM Japan and American quantum experts recently attended a lecture series hosted by the Center for Condensed Matter Sciences at the Department of Physics at NTU on February 12, 2025. IBM experts pointed out that while Moore's Law in semiconductors is facing a bottleneck, demand for AI computing and energy continues to grow, and advancing innovations in semiconductor manufacturing and packaging, AI chips, optical communications, and quantum computers are key.
During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, Huang said that "useful" quantum computers were still 15 to 30 years away, with 20 years being his best guess. However, some experts disagree.
At the lecture series, Chang stated that based on IBM's quantum computer development, "quantum is now," and not 20 years away as Huang stated. He added that players who wait too long may miss the chance to be part of quantum computing opportunities. Chang recently released the book titled 'Tiny Quantum, Giant Revolution.'
Vice president and CTO of IBM Japan Norishige Morimoto gave a lecture titled 'The Future of Computing,' discussing the rapid growth of AI computing and energy demand. He stated that as algorithms become increasingly complex, hardware development is facing limitations.
According to Morimoto, the benefits of ongoing semiconductor miniaturization are gradually reaching their limits, yet computing requirements continue to rise. To bridge the gap between the two, more technological innovations are needed, such as advanced semiconductor processes, AI-specific chips, 2.5D/3D advanced packaging, optical communications, and quantum computers.
IBM envisions the future of computing through three key components—bits, neural processing units, and quantum bits (qubits). This vision highlights the ongoing evolution within the semiconductor and IT sectors.
At present, high energy consumption remains a problem for data centers. IBM hopes that the amount of energy consumed by chips will continue to be reduced, one day reaching the energy-saving level of the human brain, which is around 20W.
IBM established its AI hardware center in New York more than 20 years ago. At the same time, it has improved its semiconductor ecosystem in Japan, promoting semiconductor development through collaborations with Samsung Electronics and Rapidus.
Taiwan currently has fewer quantum computing research resources compared to other advanced nations. To address this, IBM is focusing on talent development and established the IBM Quantum Hub at NTU in 2019.
