A recent report from Goldman Sachs, the investment bank suggests that Quantum Computing is just five years from being used in market trading. The report by the FT (Financial Times) says that Quantum computing could be brought to bear on some of the most complex calculations in financial markets within five years. The research, conducted with quantum start-up QC Ware, suggests that developers looking to exploit Quantum Computing could achieve practical results soon.
Quantum Computing of course has much potential and Goldman Sachs are not the only institution or organisation to look at exploiting quantum computing. There are many problems in finance which could benefit from enhanced computation – if suitable algorithms or speed-ups can be found. One such company already exploiting Quantum Computing for picking stocks is Chicago Quantum, who are exploiting IBM’s Quantum Cloud to find possible stock-market winners. Other financiers are busy looking at everything from portfolio optimisation to derivatives. It should come as no surprise that some of the early adopters of Quantum Computing will be from those sectors where there is plenty of funding to pursue novel techniques because the potential pay-off is so huge. Two such industries of note are finance and pharmaceuticals (drug discovery).
Goldman looked at deploying Quantum Computing to price complex derivatives – which is notoriously expensive computationally, typically employing Monte Carlo simulations to simulate future scenarios. The new research suggests significant speed-up which could see prices determined in near-instant timeframes compared to hours as is the current norm. These recent results were presented at the recent Quantum Information Processing conference and are currently undergoing peer review before publication, and we at Quantum Zeitgeist, for one, will be excited to read once hopefully published. Of course, the same technique could be used in other industries, and no matter which sector becomes the first adopter, it is likely that the multiple industries benefit from quantum advantages no matter what sector shows the fist use cases. As QC Ware state, Monte Carlo simulations could be just as applicable to Aerospace as much as Finance.
Read More on Goldman Sachs and QC Ware from the FT