Carl Byrd wrote:Will quantum computers replace everything, or will they serve a niche market in computing?
Hi Carl! Thanks for this question.
The best way to think about how a QPU (quantum processing
unit) fits into the tech ecosystem is to think of how GPUs (graphics processing units) fit in.
GPUs are really good at some tasks, and they're certainly not a niche market (almost every computer, phone, and smartwatch has one). They also haven't replaced CPUs.
QPUs are expected to be much the same; they're great at some things you can't do with a normal computer.
The first dedicated GPU I used was an SGI Skywriter around 1991. It was about the size of a refrigerator, and less powerful than your phone today. I wrote software which ran on the CPU, using normal RAM, and used a graphics library to access the GPU's capabilities and its special display RAM.
A modern QPU is similarly large (larger, including the cooling system), and also accessed through a library or API.