News Intel invests $50 million in quantum computing

About damn time. Intel is probably the best company to look into this, seeing as their binary x86 processors are becoming boring and they have more money than they know what to do with. That being said, $50 million is a fairly "good start" but it's not enough if intel expects this to become a reality worth mass producing; they can easily afford much more than that. I'm sure they'll put more money in if its yielding good results.

I think people criticizing modern quantum computers is asinine. I'm not sure what makes them not true quantum computers (so I can't comment on that) but obviously the first models aren't going to outperform their binary counterparts. It's a brand new technology that hasn't had any time for refinement. That's like looking at a child's drawing and say "that sucks". Of course it sucks, but that child could be a famous artist some day and you would never know that by looking at that drawing. Unless there is some fundamental reason quantum computers can't be the future, negative criticism is nothing but unproductive.

 

$50m is a good start but it will barely scratch the surface in the long run as costs of quantum research and development will ultimately run in to the billions while tangible results and benefits certainly won't be in evidence within our lifetimes.
It also doesn't help that current machines are being built based on theories that even the scientists who wrote them don't understand fully.... or even at all and that the latest results from the LHC at CERN are constantly rewriting the Quantum book.
It's insane amounts of money though when you realise that the LHC cost $25m a year just in electricity costs... and that was before they upped it's power.