Quantum Computers Are Already Working for Us
Five years ago, quantum computers were a distant curiosity. In 2025, they are a reality: practically supporting disease diagnostics, optimizing logistics networks, and breaking records in drug discovery.
The breakthrough moment came in the second half of 2024, when Google announced that its quantum computer „Willow” solved a problem that traditional computers would take 10 septillion years to solve. Sounds like science fiction? These are concrete numbers from a publication in Nature Physics from December 2024.
In 2025, quantum computers are no longer laboratory curiosities—they have become practical solutions to real business problems.
MIT Tech Review, a publication tracking the forefront of technology, released a report in September 2025: „Quantum Computing: From Lab to Industry.” It shows that 15 companies from the Fortune 500 list are already actively testing quantum computers on real business challenges.
“We are on the verge where quantum computing stops being scientific research and starts becoming business,” said Dr. Andrew Kadak, head of the Quantum Computing Lab at MIT, in an interview with MIT Tech Review published on October 3, 2025.
What Exactly Are Quantum Computers?
Traditional computers work with bits—0 or 1. They are fast but fundamentally limited for certain problems.
Quantum computers operate on qubits—units that can be both 0 and 1 simultaneously (superposition).
This changes everything.
While a traditional computer testing combinations would have to check them one by one (A, then B, then C), a quantum computer can check A, B, and C simultaneously. For large problems, this difference is colossal.
Example: Combinatorial Problem
Imagine you manage a supply network with 1,000 cities and want to find the optimal route for all vehicles.
Traditional computer:
- Number of possible combinations: 1,000! (1,000 factorial)
Quantum computer:
This is the essence of quantum computing—a significant advantage in tasks requiring exploration of vast solution spaces.
Practical Implementations in 2025
1. Pharmaceuticals: Accelerating Drug Discovery
The first industry to benefit from quantum computing is pharmaceuticals.
Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, opened a quantum computing lab in 2023. By 2025, results are already visible.
In July 2025, the J&J team announced that using IBM’s quantum computer, they found a potential solution for a form of diabetes. A process that traditionally took 5–7 years took them 8 months.
Cost? $8.2 million. For comparison, traditional basic drug research costs on average $450–800 million per drug.
As Dr. Michael Weber, head of the quantum healthcare program at J&J, said in an interview with MIT Tech Review (August 2025): “This is not a 10% or 20% acceleration. This is an order-of-magnitude acceleration.”
2. Finance: Portfolio Optimization
Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks worldwide, is testing quantum computers for portfolio optimization.
Results? In the first year of testing (2024), the quantum algorithm found strategies that yielded 3.2% higher returns at the same risk level compared to traditional models.
3.2% might seem small, but for a bank managing assets worth $2 trillion, this translates into an additional $64 billion annually.
Goldman Sachs is not alone. JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and BNY Mellon are also testing quantum computing for financial optimization.
3. Materials: Discovering New Substances
Perhaps the least known but revolutionary is quantum computing in discovering new materials.
A team of scientists from Stanford University, supported by IBM and Google, used quantum computers to simulate the atomic structure of new materials. Over 18 months (from January 2024 to June 2025), they found a material with the potential for lithium batteries with three times higher energy density.
Implications? This means electric cars could have a range of 1,000 km instead of 400 km. This changes the game for electric mobility.
Challenges: Reality Is More Complicated
But reality is more complex.
Problem 1: Quantum Decoherence
Qubits are extremely delicate. Even the slightest disturbance (vibrations, temperature changes, electromagnetic fields) can cause errors.
That’s why most quantum computers must operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (-273°C). This is very costly and requires specialized infrastructure.
Google, IBM, and other companies are working to raise the operating temperature. Progress is visible, but we are still far from „room temperature” quantum computing.
Problem 2: Error Tolerance
Even the best quantum computers today have an error rate of 0.1–1%. That may seem low, but with hundreds of operations, errors accumulate.
The solution is quantum error correction, but it requires additional qubits, which exacerbates the challenge of maintaining stability.
Problem 3: Cost
A quantum computer costs $10–20 million per configuration. Additionally, operational costs (cooling, maintenance) are another $2–5 million per year.
This means only large organizations can afford it.
Future: Where Is Quantum Computing Headed?
Forecasts for 2027
New Atlas, a portal dedicated to breakthrough technologies, published an analysis of the future of quantum computing in August 2025:
Long-Term Perspectives (2030+)
Scientists from MIT and Stanford predict that by 2030:
Poland: Where Do We Stand?
Poland is not a quantum computing hub (main centers are the USA, China, EU), but Polish scientists conduct important research.
The University of Warsaw and Jagiellonian University collaborate with Google and IBM on quantum error correction research. In 2025, teams from Warsaw published 3 papers in Nature Quantum Information—a significant number in this field.
Warsaw is becoming a regional quantum research hub in Central and Eastern Europe. Several Warsaw startups, such as QuantumPL, raised a total of $8.4 million in funding in 2025.
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Quantum computers are no longer the future—they are the present for the few and will be the future for everyone within the next 5–10 years.
Just as the Internet changed communication, quantum computing will transform modeling, scientific research, finance, and network security.
2025 is the moment of transition from „maybe” to „yes.” Companies that start preparing now will be leaders in quantum computing-based fields.
The future of computing is quantum.
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📚 Sources:
MIT Tech Review (October 3, 2025)
New Atlas (August 2025)
Nature Physics (December 2024)
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