He also pointed out that breaking encryption is thought to require a quantum computer with more than one million “perfect” qubits, but that’s still a long way off. For instance, he pointed out, IBM’s Condor quantum processing unit, one of the largest active quantum systems today, has just 1,121 qubits, which are susceptible to environmental noise.
Still, it’s clear that regulations until now haven’t been “perfectly enforced,” Sanders noted, as cloud-based access to high-performance AI hardware persists despite export bans. This new rule, however, homes in more specifically on quantum computing itself, whereas past government actions have addressed higher-level concerns.
“Enforcement of this is worth watching,” he said.
