Quantum Computing: How to Address the National Security Risk
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Quantum Computing: How to Address the National Security Risk
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acceleration of basic research, establishes interagency collaboration, promotes standards development, and establishes research and education centers. It also calls for the allocation from FY 2019–23 of $625 million to the Department of Energy, $250 million to the National Science Foundation, and $400 million to the Department of Commerce, which houses NIST. 45 This spending would be in addition to the $200 million or so that the United States currently spends on quantum research and technology, spread over several federal agencies. Even this expanded federal effort, however, pales by comparison to China’s commitment to winning the quantum computing race. Its government announced in September 2017 its intention to build the world’s largest quantum research facility in Hefei province. 46 The $10 billion, four-million-square-foot national laboratory is slated to be completed around March 2020, and is dedicated to making major advances in quantum technology, including computers, sensors, and cryptography. The South China Morning Post wrote that the government’s “mission is to develop a quantum computer that can be used by the military to crack the most secure encrypted codes in seconds and enable submarines to operate on stealth mode underwater for more than three months.” 47
Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, and Baidu announced their own quantum computing research departments. In partnership with the government-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese industry leader Alibaba Cloud, announced the release of its 11-bit quantum processor via its cloud services in March 2018. Alibaba had partnered with CAS in 2015 to create the CAS-Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory, which it claims participated in the development of the world’s first photon quantum computer that same year. 48
Baidu was the last of the three IT giants to join the race, but the head of its Institute for Quantum Computing, former University of Technology Sydney Professor Duan Runyao, is widely recognized as a world leader in his field. 49 Indeed, Professor Runyao is an illustrative example of how China is seeking to close the quantum computing gap with the United States by recruiting foreign talent and expertise to collaborate and travel to different Chinese institutions in the name of global scientific advancement. Universities, companies, and governments in the West, including in the United States, are only just beginning to assess the national security risks of such information sharing and the quantum “brain drain” to China. 45 National Quantum Initiative Act, H.R. 6227, 115th Cong. (2018), https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6227/text. 46 Stephen Chen, “China Building World’s Biggest Quantum Research Facility,” South China Morning Post, September 11, 2017, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2110563/china- building-worlds-biggest-quantum-research-facility. 47 Ibid.
48 “Alibaba Cloud and CAS Launch One of the World’s Most Powerful Public Quantum Computing Services,” Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center, March 1, 2018, https://www.alibabacloud.com/press- room/alibaba-cloud-and-cas-launch-one-of-the-worlds-most. 49 Masha Borak, “After Alibaba, Baidu Leaps Into Quantum Computing,” TechNode, March 8, 2018, https://technode.com/2018/03/08/baidu-quantum-computing/. Arthur Herman & Idalia Friedson While China recognizes that the U.S. is the world leader in quantum computing, its leadership is determined to establish an insurmountable lead in the crucial field of quantum cybersecurity. The Chinese government understands that a quantum technology strategy must not be limited to quantum computing, and thus China leads the way in unhackable quantum communications. Its first milestone was the 2016 launch of its Micius quantum satellite, a crucial step in establishing a secure ground- to-space quantum communications network. China has also made key advances in developing a similarly unhackable 2,000-kilometer quantum communications network from Shanghai to Beijing. 50
technology highlights China’s efforts to “transform itself from the factory of the world into an advanced economy build on hi-tech industries,” as noted in the South China Morning Post. 51 China, whose government has the advantage of long-term strategic thinking, as well as control of IT companies and access to enormous amounts of “private” data, also plans to be the leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. Though quantum and AI are distinct technologies, they will not be developed in isolation from one another. In fact, quantum computers will be able to speed up the machine learning underpinning AI, while artificial intelligence will be able to write algorithms and programs for quantum computers. 52 Quantum technology is integral not only to China’s broader strategic thinking about its hi-tech future, but also to the way that technologists and policymakers worldwide imagine the relationship between quantum and AI. This is because of the ways in which each of these technologies will help develop the other—as well as the fact that AI will be vulnerable to hacking and commandeering by an intruder if not protected by quantum cybersecurity. Furthermore, China understands that emerging technologies will eventually intersect, including quantum, which is another reason it is investing heavily in its fiber-optic infrastructure. One goal of the “Broadband China” strategy is to increase the percentage of households with broadband access from 40 percent in 2015 to 70 percent by 2020. 53 By contrast, a 2017 Deloitte study reported that fewer than 20 percent of U.S. households have fiber optics, with the rest relying on slower copper technologies or no broadband services at all. 54
Arthur Herman, “Winning the Race in Quantum Computing,” American Affairs, May 30, 2018, https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/05/winning-the-race-in-quantum-computing/. 51 Zen Soo, “China’s Race for the Mother of All Supercomputers Just Got More Crowded,” South China Morning Post, March 12, 2018, https://www.scmp.com/tech/science- research/article/2136669/chinas-race-mother-all-supercomputers-just-got-more-crowded. 52 Cade Metz, “Building A.I. That Can Build A.I.,” New York Times, November 5, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/technology/machine-learning-artificial-intelligence-ai.html 53 “When Computers Became Classic: Understanding the Race Towards Quantum,” Wilson Center, September 14, 2017, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/when-computers-became-classic- understanding-the-race-towards-quantum. 54 “Communications Infrastructure Upgrades: The Need for Deep Fiber,” Deloitte, July 13, 2017, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media- telecommunications/us-tmt-5GReady-the-need-for-deep-fiber-pov.pdf. 18
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An advanced fiber-optic infrastructure—particularly one compatible with quantum cybersecurity technology—will be paramount for underpinning a hi-tech society because it is the highway on which emerging technologies such as quantum computing and AI will run. |