Singapore focuses on enhancing its quantum computing capabilities through new initiatives to build necessary skill sets and quantum equipment. It emphasises the importance of doing so in order to keep encryption technology resilient and capable of withstanding "brute force" attacks.
The Singapore government announced on Tuesday that it will set aside SG$23.5 million (17.09 million) to support three national platforms under its Quantum Engineering Programme (QEP) for up to 3.5 years. The initiative is a component of the country's Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2020 (RIE2020) strategy.
Two of these platforms were announced on 31st May, including the National Quantum Computing Hub, which will pool knowledge and resources from the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT), local universities, and research institutes to strengthen key skill sets.
University, A*STAR's Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC), and the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) would seek to establish international collaborations and train new talent in order to address a skill scarcity in the emerging industry.
CQT and IHPC researchers would also create quantum computing hardware and middleware, with potential applications in finance, supply chain, and chemistry.
The National Supercomputing Center (NSCC) would offer the supercomputing capacity required to design and train algorithms for usage on quantum computers. A second programme, National Quantum Fabless Foundry, was launched to facilitate the micro and nano-fabrication of quantum devices in cleanrooms run by industrial partners.
Both efforts would boost local talent and allow academics to investigate how quantum computing may help diverse businesses as well as build quantum gadgets.
The Quantum Engineering Programme also included a quantum-safe network that was billed as demonstrating "crypto-agile connectivity" and supporting experiments with both public and commercial entities.
The initiative, which was announced earlier in February, intended to improve network security for vital infrastructures and had 15 partners at the time of introduction, including ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, Cyber Security Agency, and Amazon Web Services.
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, Heng Swee Keat, stated in his address announcing the new efforts that the country needs to stay alert in the face of growing dangers.
Heng likened cyber threats to a "cat and mouse game," adding that efforts were made to keep ahead of hostile actors who were always looking for new loopholes to attack. With the cyber world rapidly developing, he believes quantum technology has the potential to be a "game changer."
"Strong encryption is key to the security of digital networks. The current encryption standard, AES 256, has held up, as few have the computing power to use brute force to break the encryption. But this could change with quantum computing," he cautioned.
"For some cryptographic functions, the fastest quantum computer is more than 150 million times faster than the fastest supercomputer. Quantum computers can solve in minutes a problem which takes a supercomputer 10,000 years."
According to the minister, this highlights the significance of quantum technology research.
He added, "Our investment in quantum computing and quantum engineering is part of our approach of trying to anticipate the future and proactively shaping the future that we want."
He noted that as digitalisation grew, so did cyber concerns and that Singapore must continue to invest to keep ahead of possible threats.
He went on to say that the fabless foundry will use the country's manufacturing skills to create quantum devices that would tackle "real-world challenges" in collaboration with industry partners.
