What Is Quantum As A Service And Why Does It Matter For Your Business

Quantum computing is generating a lot of excitement in the tech world right now. Following several recent breakthroughs, this once theoretical technology is increasingly accessible to researchers and even businesses.

Just in case you’re still not sure—quantum computing refers to a new generation of processing technology that, by harnessing the strange properties of quantum mechanics, can perform certain mathematical functions millions of times faster than even the most powerful current supercomputers.

As you might expect of devices that often need to be super-cooled to close to absolute zero to work, current quantum computers are hugely expensive to own and difficult to maintain.

This is where quantum-as-a-service comes in. Thanks to QaaS, businesses wanting to experiment with it or even start putting it to operational use don’t need to spend millions of dollars on hardware and a dedicated facility to operate it from.

Instead, QaaS providers let businesses or research organizations access their quantum computers through the cloud, using a pay-as-you-go model to minimize initial overheads.

The global market for quantum computing is expected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2025 to close to $7.5 billion by 2030. QaaS is likely to play an important role in enabling this growth, and benefits are expected in many fields, including drug discovery and understanding climate change.

Who Uses QAAS, And Why?

QaaS is an increasingly attractive option for many businesses and organizations that want to experiment with quantum computing without incurring huge initial outlays.

Academic and research institutions, for example, are leading the way with many breakthroughs in quantum computing. But with budgets and funding often limited, access to quantum through cloud services helps create a level playing field for scientific discovery.

Pharmaceutical and biotech firms are continuously running large simulations to model complex molecular interactions such as those involved in protein folding. QaaS means the power available to do this can be scaled up and down as needed, leading to more efficient discovery.

In automotive and aerospace design, quantum computing is used to test properties of new materials and compounds for use in vehicle and aircraft engineering. This involves creating new types of simulators that model materials at the sub-atomic level, meaning they will behave more closely to their real-world counterparts. This is something that quantum is great for, but few organizations can afford to have computing power at the required scale on premises.

And financial services companies are using it to model risks and understand the seemingly chaotic behavior of markets, to help them make better investment decisions. While multinational banks like JP Morgan and HSBC have money to invest in IT infrastructure, the quantum skills shortage still makes it difficult to find workers with the technical knowledge to maintain it.

In short, QaaS hugely reduces (in principle) the financial cost, the logistical requirements, and the skills overhead of running quantum computing projects, potentially making it available to a much wider user base.

It's important to remember that most quantum computing projects are still experimental, though, and it will be some time before the technology is ready for every potential use case.

Who Are The Key QAAS Providers?

The market for quantum-as-a-service is nascent, but a number of providers have emerged as leaders in recent years.

IBM Quantum

IBM was the first company to offer quantum computing as a cloud service, and currently offers customers pay-as-you-go access to its stack of 20 quantum processors through its IBM Quantum platform.

Amazon Bracket

Amazon offers quantum services through its AWS cloud architecture, with a key selling point being that customers can access hardware from multiple leading quantum manufacturers, including IonQ and Rigetti, through its enterprise-ready infrastructure. This makes it a strong choice for those looking to experiment with business implementations.

Microsoft Azure Quantum

As with Amazon and AWS, Microsoft has tapped the ability of its Azure cloud platform to put its quantum processors within easy reach of paying business customers.

Google Quantum AI

Google’s quantum engineers recently solved the tricky challenge of improving error-correction of its quantum computers—a property that keeps the processing “qubits” in a stable state and capable of carrying out quantum computing operations. It now offers enterprise users access to this more error-tolerant quantum computing through its own cloud platform.

Is QaaS Right For Me?

It will be a long time, if ever, before all or even most organizations need access to QaaS. However, if you’re in an industry that’s set to be disrupted by its arrival, it’s not an opportunity you’ll want to miss.

If your business model involves modelling of complex systems, real-world environments or optimization challenges (such as finding the most efficient route between a large number of destinations), then quantum is certainly worth exploring.

At the same time, if you don’t feel ready to commit to the capital expenditure on cryogenic infrastructure and competing to hire the hens-teeth-rate quantum computing PhDs needed to run it, QaaS could be the logical way forward.