The hot new use for graphics cards: pretending to be a quantum computer
Quantum computers have been in the works for a long time and yet we're still nowhere near exploiting quantum physics for massive computational power. You'd think that'd put all but the most driven researchers off investing in quantum computing, but some startups are now preparing for the quantum revolution by running quantum-inspired software on today's powerful graphics cards.
Quantum computing promises to completely revolutionise how we process huge numbers of calculations. Some theoretical uses for it today include drug and vaccine discovery, managing logistics on a global scale, diving deeper into the human genome, super cybersecurity (or, on the flip side, super code-cracking), and similarly demanding stuff. The problem is it just doesn't work yet at the sort of accuracy and scale required to be all that useful.
Some people were getting impatient with quantum's development, so turned elsewhere. Today's top graphics cards are in high demand for artificial intelligence acceleration, and it's this recent burst of AI performance that has led to an emerging use for imitating quantum calculations.
It basically sounds a lot like AI and quantum computing teaming up for something in between both, and powered by GPUs.
QC Ware is a software startup highlighted in a report from Reuters(opens in new tab) that's going about just that. It raised significant capital to focus on building software for quantum computers, but ultimately decided to switch focus to «build a bridge to quantum processing in the future.»
So, rather than make software for something that doesn't entirely exist right now, make software that will ease the transition to quantum computing in future. Its first project is a drug development platform(opens in new
Read more on pcgamer.com
