Insights from the Asian Investment Conference 2026
Quantum: The best and worst of the next computing revolution
Quantum advantage will be a watershed moment – both in terms of opportunity and risk.
Quantum computing is emerging as the next frontier alongside today’s AI revolution, promising to extend computational capabilities far beyond classical limits. While AI is already driving measurable gains in automation and data-driven decision-making, quantum technologies offer the potential to tackle problems that are currently intractable – such as complex molecular simulations, optimization at massive scale, and advanced cryptography.
This potential is wide-ranging and depends in part on who wields it. In the right hands, quantum computing could accelerate medical breakthroughs and optimize swathes of industry. In the wrong hands, it threatens to undermine the foundations of cybersecurity, putting sensitive data and financial systems at risk.
UBS forecasts quantum advantage – when a quantum computer can solve problems faster, more accurately or more efficiently than the most powerful classical supercomputers – will come around 2033.1 Though this is slightly later than many other estimates, it is nonetheless fast approaching.
At the recent Asian Investment Conference (AIC), experts looked across the spectrum in terms of the opportunities and risks of the next computing revolution, and how industry leaders are preparing for the future now.
The promise: Quantum in biopharma
The promise: Quantum in biopharma
Artificial intelligence is already being used to enhance the drug discovery process, improving target identification, molecule design and clinical trial processes. The AI-driven drug discovery (AIDD) market is projected to reach 74.6 billion USD by 2032, with healthcare companies now collaborating with AI players or building AIDD capabilities in house to compete.2
Quantum computers promise to amplify this progress in the coming decades, given the symbiotic relationship between the two technologies. Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, noted that quantum is still in its infancy but it may be the next industry-changing catalyst for innovation.
“Right now, quantum is in a very similar state as generative AI was in 2016, when we demonstrated that it is possible to use generative adversarial networks for small molecule design,” he said at AIC.
“With the current understanding of quantum technology and its evolution, I think in the next five plus years we are going to see dramatic capabilities in small molecule drug design and the design of biologics.”
The efficiencies of quantum could dramatically reduce the drug discovery timeline, and as a result, the cost of identifying promising new treatments.
“This approach could enable the identification of new preclinical candidates within 12–18 months at a cost of only USD 3–5 million, versus 4–5 years and over USD 100 million under traditional drug discovery approaches,” says UBS Japan Pharmaceuticals Analyst Atushi Seki.
The risk: Quantum and cybersecurity
The risk: Quantum and cybersecurity
While quantum computing holds huge potential for innovation and efficiency, it is also a source of risk.
Quantum’s ability to break encryption has already been theoretically proven, and cybersecurity expert Andrew Grotto, Director of Stanford's Geopolitics, Technology and Governance Program, says the reality is “only a matter of time”.
“A quantum computer strong enough to potentially break commercial encryption is no longer viewed as a physics problem; it’s an engineering problem,” he said at AIC.
While UBS’s date of 2033 is a relatively conservative estimate for quantum advantage, Grotto noted that preparation must begin now.
“Data is vulnerable to being harvested and potentially decrypted later,” he said. “Even though a quantum computer capable of breaking commercial encryption doesn’t exist today, if one comes down the pike and an adversary has collected data that is still valuable, they could use quantum to crack that encryption.
“My advice is to start planning for this transition now.”
However, at the flip side of these risks are opportunities. The challenges quantum computing poses to cybersecurity are sparking a wave of innovation across the tech industry.
Businesses, governments and academics worldwide are pushing toward post-quantum cryptography – new encryption methods to withstand the power of quantum computers. This global push is giving rise to a dynamic ecosystem of companies focused on next-generation cybersecurity, with forward-thinking organizations positioning themselves at the forefront of this transition.
Risk and opportunity: Two sides of the same coin
Risk and opportunity: Two sides of the same coin
Quantum is not an incremental improvement to today’s computing capabilities. It is a fundamentally different technology, capable of solving in 200 seconds a problem that would take even the most sophisticated supercomputer 10,000 years.
This is a transformational shift on many fronts. The same breakthrough that could accelerate healthcare innovation and optimize industries could also expose sensitive data to unprecedented risks.
A cohort of companies and actors are working diligently at both ends of the spectrum: to secure quantum advantage and deploy it for innovation, and to safeguard data for a post-quantum world.
