By investing and experimenting in quantum technologies now HSBC is not just preparing for the future; we’re shaping it,” Colin Bell, CEO of HSBC Bank and HSBC Europe, said in a statement.

HSBC is one of a number of banks helping pioneer tech solutions that combine AI and quantum or AQ for short. Shoring up cybersecurity is a key reason, but it is not the only one. Combining the two technologies can improve business outcomes across a broad spectrum of industries from financial services and healthcare to aerospace and manufacturing, say industry experts.

Using AQ now can also be a hedge against the day that fault-tolerant quantum computers become a reality. Since quantum computing is a step-change technology with substantial barriers to adoption industry pundits say early movers will seize a large share of the total value, while those who have not prepared may not be able to catch up and could see their businesses wiped out overnight.

That prospect is so worrying that a new acronym cropped up during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January, says Clement Jeanjean, a Paris-based senior director at SandboxAQ, a company spun out from Google parent Alphabet that delivers AQ solutions that run on today’s classical computing platforms. “Instead of FOMO [Fear of Missing Out] people were talking about FOBO: Fear of Becoming Obsolete,” he says. “There is a race to make sure that historical incumbents in industry verticals are not put out of business overnight.”

There was also concern in Davos about not just companies but countries falling dramatically behind. “The growing global quantum divide between countries with established quantum technology programs and those without will lead to significant imbalances in core areas such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing and more,” according to the Quantum Economy Blueprint report published by the World Economic Forum on January 16, during the annual meeting.

Current worldwide public sector investments in quantum computing exceed $40 billion, says the report. But only 24 out of the 193 member states of the United Nations have some form of national initiative or strategy to support quantum technology development.

“We do not want to risk a quantum divide and hope the blueprint will enable discussions for different regions to participate and benefit from the quantum economy,” says Arunima Sarkar, the Forum’s Lead, Quantum Technologies. “We look forward to piloting the blueprint, working with policymakers in developing regional and national roadmaps for leveraging the potential of this technology and preparing for the transition to the post-quantum era.”

The Forum takes a much wider view of quantum technologies, including not just computing but also sensing and communications, says Sarkar. “Some of these technologies are already being deployed while for others we see rapid advancements,” she says. “Eventually these technologies are expected to permeate every sector of society, creating what we call the Quantum Economy.”

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