Can quantum computing tame AI’s appetite for energy?

The US Department of Energy (DoE) is offering up to $215 million in funding to help domestic companies develop the world’s first reliable quantum computer. The race to develop quantum computing as a next-generation technology has intensified, with the technology emerging as a potential solution to the Pandora’s box of enormous energy demand unleashed by the artificial intelligence boom.

The Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis Q competition is currently accepting proposals for ideas aimed at “deploying quantum computers with at least 100 logical qubits, capable of executing hundreds of millions of fault-tolerant operations, and scientific demonstration programs.”

Under Secretary of Energy for Science Darío Gil said the competition encourages commercial-sector participation through Quantum Genesis Q to “create an environment for collaboration and competition at the same time... and bring out the best of the competitive spirit,” as part of a broader goal to ensure that the United States establishes itself as a leader in the global quantum computing race.

In addition, the Department of Energy has launched a complementary program called the Quantum High-Performance Computing Validation and Verification Testbed Lab Call, which is seeking proposals from the US national laboratory network to “develop and implement the full suite of tools and expertise needed to validate the performance of fault-tolerant quantum computers.”

Quantum computing versus AI’s energy consumption

The push to accelerate the development of advanced quantum computing technologies comes at a time when such a breakthrough is increasingly needed to rein in the energy monster being created by artificial intelligence.

A new report from BCG suggests that quantum computing, once sufficiently developed, could one day help address between 20% and 40% of emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and cement production, according to an exclusive preview of the report published by Semafor.

The report adds that the technology could also be applied to carbon capture, green hydrogen and ammonia, and batteries.

Although quantum computers also require significant amounts of energy to operate, their consumption appears small compared with the vast amount of power being consumed by the data centers driving the AI boom.

According to Semafor, the new BCG study estimates that “the sector’s carbon footprint will be relatively small compared with the AI industry, because quantum computing is likely to be used to solve specific problems rather than as a general-purpose technology.”

Moreover, quantum computing could make artificial intelligence itself more energy-efficient by changing the way large language models operate.

“For the tasks that quantum computing is good at, such as AI processing, there is no way any GPU can compete with us. These workloads will eventually move to quantum computing, and today’s technology literally cannot compete,” Peter Chapman, president and CEO of quantum computing company IonQ, told Forbes in 2024.

“To simulate what quantum computing does, or what our next-generation chip does, you would need something like 2.5 billion GPUs, while it runs on two standard electrical outlets,” Chapman added.

Quantum potential for advancing clean energy technologies

Quantum computing also holds promise for improving clean energy technologies.

Quantum batteries could one day, in a way that may initially seem counterintuitive, release more energy than the amount they store if they share a quantum state with the device they are powering.

Quantum mechanics could also enable a new form of energy-harvesting device capable of capturing waste heat emitted by electronics and industrial machinery.

Last year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that they had discovered a way to observe the so-called “edge state” of electrons, a state in which energy loss is eliminated, with significant potential to transform the technology sector.

According to a report by Interesting Engineering, “this frictionless movement of electrons could enable data and energy to be transferred between devices without any transmission losses, leading to the development of ultra-efficient electronic circuits and quantum computers.”