The Coming Q-Day: US states largely unprepared as quantum computing threats loom

In an inconspicuous building on the western edge of Boston, scientists are using lasers to separate atoms and develop one of the most powerful machines ever created. Once fully operational, it could be able to create new, lifesaving medicines. It could also become the most devastating cyber weapon yet.

“It is a mini, little Manhattan Project, and we’re just building this unbelievable device,” said Andy Ory, the CEO of QuEra, a Boston company working to develop a commercially viable quantum computer. The company’s technology sprang from the laboratories of Harvard and MIT scientists and is already one of the country’s most advanced quantum computers.

Quantum computers are able to solve problems that would take a supercomputer septillions of years to untangle, and Google’s quantum chip Willow, for example, has already done so. They use the power of atoms, which abide by an entirely different set of physics than the world at large. “This is some of the most complex scientific instruments that humankind has ever built,” Ory said.

The risk they pose is known as “Q-Day,” the hypothetical date that highly advanced quantum computers will become strong enough to break the widely used forms of cryptography that protect digital communications, identities and transactions across government and industry. Experts have warned about this risk for decades, but with recent improvements in technology and the help of AI, Q-Day’s arrival could come as soon as 2029, if not before.