Singapore to set up first quantum computer for commercial use

It aims to speed up the discovery of new drugs and financial derivative pricing

- Sarah Koh

Local firms will soon be able to harness the abilities of anew quantum computer set up in Singapore, which aims to accelerate the discovery of new drugs and financial derivative pricing.

The Helios quantum computer, which will be set up in 2026, comes under a new partnership inked between the National Quantum Office (NQO) and US-based firm Quantinuum, which builds quantum computers.

This will be the second quantum computer to be set up here and the first to be used for commercial purposes, said the two organisations and the National Quantum Computing Hub (NQCH) in a joint statement on Nov 6.

“It will significantly expand Singapore’s research and development scope, enabling scientists and companies to tackle larger, more complex and industry-relevant problems,” said NQO’s executive director Ling Keok Tong.

Unlike traditional computers that store information as either zeroes or ones, quantum computers use quantum bits (or qubits) to represent and store information in a complex mix of zeroes and ones simultaneously.

As the number of qubits grows, a quantum computer becomes exponentially more powerful.