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Quantum computing firm D-Wave has achieved a singular breakthrough: it has simulated the “properties of magnetic materials,” opening up the opportunity to “invent” new materials without having to produce them physically in a lab, as D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told Fast Company.

What it means: The achievement, first published in Science earlier this month, marks the first time a quantum computer has solved a useful, real-world problem that a classical computer couldn’t manage.

• In fact, “To simulate the property of magnetic materials on a classical computer—as the D-Wave team recently did using its quantum computer—would require nearly 1 million years and more energy than the entire world utilizes over the course of a year. D-Wave’s team did it in 20 minutes,” according to Fast Company.

Quantum vs. classical: “Rather than store information using bits represented by 0s or 1s as conventional digital computers do, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, to encode information as 0s, 1s or both at the same time,” D-Wave explains on its site.

• “This superposition of states—along with the other quantum mechanical phenomena of entanglement and tunneling—enables quantum computers to manipulate enormous combinations of states at once.”
• D-Wave’s annealing quantum computer uses these capabilities to solve problems by finding the “lowest energy state” in an enormous range of possible solutions.
• “To imagine this, think of a traveler looking for the best solution by finding the lowest valley in the energy landscape that represents the problem,” as D-Wave puts it.

The possibilities are vast: Being able to simulate materials without creating and testing them in the lab offers significant opportunities for the manufacturing industry and could save companies huge amounts of time and resources. D-Wave foresees that these simulated materials could have applications in everything from “pacemakers to cellphones,” as it told Fast Company.

• “There’s no shortage of potential applications,” said D-Wave Chief Scientist Mohammad Amin.

Further innovation: Another impact of quantum computing is its potential to revolutionize blockchain technology, D-Wave told us.

• “Manufacturers are increasingly adopting blockchain technology to enhance supply chain transparency, track product origins, improve inventory management, and streamline operations. This adoption has led to increased efficiency and reduced costs,” said D-Wave Global Government Relations and Public Affairs Leader Allison Schwartz.
• “Annealing quantum computing offers a potential solution by providing a faster and more environmentally friendly alternative to manufacturers’ current mining operations using classical computers.”