Security News > 2022 > May > Biden orders new quantum push to ensure encryption isn't cracked by rivals

US president Joe Biden issued two directives on Wednesday aimed at ensuring the nation - and like-minded friends - remain ahead of other countries in the field of quantum computing.

The committee is an enhancement to the National Quantum Initiative Act - a 2018 law that provides $1.2 billion and a plan for advancing quantum tech.

"A cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer could jeopardize civilian and military communications as well as undermine supervisory and control systems for critical infrastructure," warned the Agency's director, Paul M. Nakasone in a statement.

In 2020, Chinese physicist Pan Jianwei claimed to have left the US in the dust by using a quantum system to complete in 200 seconds a calculation that the world's mightiest classical computers would chew on for 10,000 years.

Beijing has demanded more breakthroughs in the field of quantum computing by 2030 - a year cited in a US congressional research report as the beginning of the era when conventional encryption will become unsafe when attacked by quantum systems.

Last November, the US sanctioned 28 organizations, 12 of which were Chinese, involved in supporting China's military quantum computing applications.

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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/us_quantum_initiatives/