What CIOs should know about quantum computing - CIO Dive

Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Quantum computing is often described as a technology on the verge of breakout success — but one that never quite gets there. The idea that computers could calculate at exponentially faster scales than anything available today felt more science fiction than an impending reality. But now, the technology's rapid development is elevating quantum computing as an area for CIOs and other IT leaders to watch closely. Leaders should prepare by evaluating potential quantum use cases while keeping a close eye on the technology's profound cybersecurity implications. “Quantum has had a reputation of previously always being 10 years away,” said Michael Brett, worldwide go-to market strategy leader for quantum technologies at AWS. “Now, it’s like 18 months away.” The quantum market reached $1.4 billion in 2025, and is expected to more than double by 2028, according to the Quantum Economic Development Consortium. In their 2026 market forecast, the group found that while quantum computing is still in an early stage of technological maturity, commercialization continues — more than one-third of companies surveyed expect more than 25% revenue growth in 2026, and no respondents anticipate a decline. Quantum computing is happening, even if most enterprises won’t buy a quantum computer today, or maybe ever. “You should not buy a quantum computer under any circumstances,” said Mark Horvath, VP analyst for quantum computing at Gartner, which might seem obvious, but it’s a question he’s asked several times a day. Quantum computers aren’t just another high performance computer. They are expensive to build and maintain. They require special, isolated environments that are cut off from heat and noise and must be kept at nearly absolute zero temperature in order to work. The workforce needed to maintain and program them is in short supply, too.

The Quantum Economic Development Consortium found gaps in the number of trained workers in physics, electrical engineering, photonics and computer science. The industry also needs workers who have specialties in two fields, like quantum physics and engineering, or quantum and software development. Despite its complexity, quantum computing is already being used in specialized areas, according to Horvath, such as for logistics, national security resource management, financial services and hard sciences like chemistry. They can often solve problems that only a specific set of algorithms running on quantum could solve, said Horvath. To access quantum computing power, companies and organizations typically work with third-party vendors, a strategy that will likely become more common in the future, he said. Companies rent time on a vendor’s quantum computer to do specific tasks. While still in this early maturation stage, Brett expects vendors to “learn which machines are going to be the most useful and which to invest in as we scale up,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of ramping up production. Each one of these machines is a hand-built, highly complex device, and at least for now it’s going to be very difficult to scale up to big numbers in the first couple of years.” What enterprises should do now Quantum computing isn’t unknown to CIOs, but they are becoming more aware of the technology's capabilities, said Brett. While most investment in quantum computing for enterprise has come from global enterprises, CIOs should be aware of the playing field and keep close watch the technology's development, he said. Horvath recommends assigning a pointperson within an organization to explore what the organization can do with quantum computing, who can then collaborate with the CIO if they identify a potential application. CIOs can also talk to companies in the quantum space for real life use cases to get an idea of how it could be applicable within their organization. Tapping a vendor to access their quantum computers “doesn’t stop you from having to do your own homework but it makes it a lot shorter because you don’t have to do the whole thing yourself,” he said. Grasping the cybersecurity implications While quantum computing can be used for good, its advancement also brings major cybersecurity problems.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology created a timeline for companies that work with the federal government to migrate to new post-quantum encryption standards by 2035, “before quantum computers put today's encryption at risk,” they said in the announcement. The goal is to protect companies — and the government — from attacks that are fueled by quantum computing power. In its 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, IBM found that executives planned to increase their investments in quantum security for data transfer by 31%, compared to 24% in the prior year. But organizations still lack the strong encryption and cryptography governance they will need to combat for future quantum driven risks. Gartner predicts that by 2029, there’s a 25% chance that a state actor will have a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, with that chance jumping to 75% by 2031. Suja Viswesan, VP of security and runtime products at IBM, said that companies can use the NIST timeline as a guide, even if they aren’t doing work with the federal government. The framework will help companies in the future as post-quantum encryption standards become the norm. This is not just a CISO problem, she added, but a CIO problem as well. Businesses need to create an inventory of software, subscriptions and what’s encrypted, including anything coming from third-party vendors. When speaking to vendors and suppliers, CIOs should also be asking if hardware is quantum safe and if software will be quantum ready. “You cannot be reactive on this because it’s a long term journey,” she said. “This is not a sprint. People who start early have a competitive advantage.”