UK pledges £1bn to keep quantum computing talent from moving to US
The government announced £1bn in funding for quantum computing design on Tuesday, framing the investment as essential to preventing UK scientists and startups from relocating to the United States.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the UK has watched AI talent leave for American companies and cannot repeat that mistake with quantum computing. "Too many people feel they have to move to the US in order to get the funding and support they need to grow and scale their company," she said.
The funding will help companies design large-scale quantum computers for use by scientists, researchers, the public sector, and businesses. An additional £1bn, already committed, will support applications in finance, pharmaceuticals, and energy.
What quantum computers do differently
Classical computers process information using bits-units represented as either 0 or 1. Quantum computers use qubits, which exploit a quantum physics property called superposition. A qubit can exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing it to process many outcomes at once.
This means quantum computers can theoretically work through vastly more possibilities than classical machines. Last year Google announced an algorithm that let a quantum computer operate 13,000 times faster than a classical computer for specific tasks.
Qubits are fragile. They must be kept in highly controlled environments free from electromagnetic interference, or they fail. Fully functional quantum computers would require hundreds of thousands of qubits-a threshold not yet reached.
Where the UK stands
The UK has produced several quantum startups, including Quantinuum, a US-UK firm that reached a $10bn valuation recently. Kendall said the government wants to build a domestic large-scale quantum computer by the early 2030s.
The comparison to AI is direct. DeepMind, the AI firm co-founded by Nobel laureate Demis Hassabis, remains London-based but was acquired by Google in 2014 for £400m. Major US companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Palantir now operate significant AI operations in the UK, but the intellectual property and profits flow elsewhere.
Kendall said the government does not want to take a "back seat" on quantum. "I want to be at the front of the grid and leading," she told the Guardian at the National Quantum Computing Centre outside Oxford.
Potential applications
Quantum computers could help design new chemicals, drugs, and materials. They could provide more efficient representations of complex molecules, allowing researchers to predict molecular behavior and accelerate drug discovery.
For government professionals involved in science funding, technology policy, or research strategy, the announcement signals a shift toward protecting domestic tech talent through direct capital investment rather than relying on private markets.
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