Quantum computing adopters have realistic expectations of the near-term benefits of the technology, including enabling more efficient operations, improving existing products and services, and improving sustainability.

According to the “Quantum Computing Adopter Survey – 2023 Analysis” by research organization Omdia, these outweigh more esoteric benefits, such as enhancing a company’s brand or reputation, and longer-term benefits not possible with current quantum computers.

This ties in with an understanding that commercially relevant quantum computing competitive advantage will come before true quantum advantage. While definitions vary, most experts agree that fully fault-tolerant quantum computers are eight to 12 years away years or more.

Respondents are looking equally at three primary types of use cases: quantum machine learning (35%), simulation of quantum mechanical systems such as simulating the behavior of molecules (34%), and combinatorial optimization (31%). In last year’s survey, respondents rated quantum machine learning more highly (66%). The energy and life sciences industries expressed more interest in simulation, while the manufacturing and transport, and logistics industries expressed more interest in quantum machine learning.

A surprisingly large number of respondents in the current survey stated that their organizations owned a quantum computing system located in their facilities but operated and maintained by their vendors (43%). A further 34% own and operate a quantum computing system in their facilities and 33% access quantum computing resources from a vendor’s cloud offering. However, the survey notes that the onsite count includes quantum emulators – classical computers running quantum algorithms and emulating quantum computers with a low number of qubits.

Adopters are willing to invest generously in quantum computing technology. Roughly 50% of respondents stated their organizations had committed an annual budget of between $1 million and $5 million, an increase over last year’s results. Respondents in the U.S. and China indicated higher budget commitments than respondents in Germany, and respondents in the energy sector indicated the highest budget commitments among the industry verticals.

However, a lack of internal quantum computing expertise is still the top concern among adopters, highlighting the skills gap pervasive throughout the ecosystem for both vendors and customers.