Quantum’s Next Leap: It’s the Code, Not the Cryostat

Forget building bigger machines, quantum’s real race is writing smarter code. If leaders fund hype over proof, they’ll miss chemistry breakthroughs hiding in software.

Quantum’s frontier is shifting. For years, hardware dominated the headlines; bigger labs, colder cryostats, more qubits. But as machines inch forward, the bottleneck is increasingly code.

Phasecraft just raised $34m to design algorithms that shrink problems until today’s imperfect machines can actually solve them. Investors like Novo Nordisk see the practical payoff: better batteries, faster drug discovery, and material science advances.

Google researchers recently claimed a 20× reduction in resources needed to run Shor’s algorithm. Riverlane reports exponential decreases in requirements over the last decade. And while “quantum advantage” remains contested, Phasecraft’s Ashley Montanaro expects “scientifically important” results by next spring. That timeline may prove ambitious, but the direction is clear: algorithms are becoming quantum’s leverage point.

In my new book, Now What? How to Ride the Tsunami of Change, I argue that exponential technologies often reward those who focus on verifiable outcomes, not lofty promises. This is one of those moments.

• Pilot hybrid workflows that combine classical and quantum steps.
• Validate algorithm claims against hardware realities.
• Tie budgets to domain-specific outcomes like batteries or pharma.

Execution—not hype—will determine who captures quantum’s early wins. The question is no longer “when will hardware be ready?” but “are we prepared to fund execution where quantum can add value today?”

Read the full article on Financial Times.

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