For instance, in October 2024, Chinese researchers used a quantum computer developed by the Canadian company D-Wave to break key components of advanced encryption standards, an encryption system used by the military and considered state-of-the-art.1 As working encryption is the basis for most communication today, including the internet, being able to break encryption at scale would be a game-changer.
The US and China have both elevated quantum technology to an arena of global technology competition similar to the Cold War rivalry over nuclear capabilities. Although the product is not a bomb but a computer, whoever develops quantum computing first will have palpable military advantages in cryptology, detection and information processing, not to mention a symbolic victory in a tech field all global powers agree is of strategic significance.2