IBM Software Executive Predicts Quantum Computers Will Become Mainstream in Five Years
May 22 2019 - 2:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Yun-Hee Kim
NEW YORK -- Quantum computers won't replace today's traditional
computers, but they will become mainstream within five years, a top
executive in charge of emerging technologies at International
Business Machines Corp. predicted.
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything
Festival Wednesday, Arvind Krishna, senior vice president of cloud
and cognitive software, predicted that with quantum computing,
batteries could last "a thousand times longer" and airplanes could
become lighter.
"All of these use cases, I think, will get solved in a few
years," Mr. Krishna said. "Pharmaceuticals and drug discovery is a
much harder problem."
Quantum computers have the potential to sort through a vast
number of possible solutions -- more than the number of atoms in
the universe -- with the calculations being completed as fast as a
fraction of a second.
Responding to criticism from researchers that the U.S. may be
falling behind China and the European Union to invest in quantum
computing, Mr. Krishna said the U.S. is currently slightly ahead
but does need to invest more. China is constructing a $10 billion
research center for quantum applications. The European Union
announced in 2016 that it is creating a EUR1 billion effort on four
areas of quantum technology including computing and
communication.
Mr. Krishna, who also oversees the integration of IBM's $33
billion acquisition of Red Hat Inc. said he expects the deal --
IBM's largest acquisition to date -- to close around June. The
company has received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice
for the deal, and is now awaiting approval from the European
Union.
Asked about restructuring after the acquisition is completed,
Mr. Krishna said that it wouldn't result in any job cuts at Red
Hat.
"This is a value deal, not about cost synergy. They [Red Hat]
run on multiple public clouds. It's got to be preserved," he
said.
In the public cloud space, IBM trails rivals Amazon Inc. and
Microsoft Corp. IBM ranked fifth in the world for public
cloud-infrastructure service in 2017, according to data from
Gartner Inc., behind Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba Group Holding Inc.
and Google Inc.
But Mr. Krishna said the acquisition creates a big opportunity
for IBM to expand in the so-called hybrid cloud space where
customers run some software in their own data centers but also use
cloud services.
"I'm not trying to catch up to Amazon and Microsoft," he said.
"They are going down the path of public cloud and we are going to
be hybrid. There is so much investment that's already happening and
there is so much data that can't sit on the public cloud. I believe
there is space for all of us," he said.
Sara Castellanos contributed to this article.
Write to Yun-Hee Kim at yun-hee.kim@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 22, 2019 14:17 ET (18:17 GMT)
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