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Quantum In Action

Real-World Examples

The Quantum Revolution Is Already Happening

Quantum computing is no longer a laboratory experiment or a distant promise. The world’s largest companies are already using quantum algorithms to solve problems that classical computers cannot handle at scale. Here are the real-world results that prove it.

The Benchmark That Changed Everything

Google Willow — 10 Septillion Years vs. 5 Minutes

In December 2024, Google published a landmark result in the journal Nature. Their Willow quantum chip solved a benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take the world’s fastest classical supercomputer an estimated 10 septillion years to complete — a number so large it exceeds the age of the universe many times over.

This was not a theoretical result. It was a live demonstration on real quantum hardware, peer-reviewed and published in one of the world’s most respected scientific journals. 

Source: Google Blog, December 2024 / Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08449-y 

D-Wave — Nearly One Million Years vs. Minutes

In March 2025, D-Wave published a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Science demonstrating that their quantum annealer solved a complex magnetic materials simulation in minutes — a calculation that would take a classical supercomputer nearly one million years to complete at the same level of accuracy. The same classical computation would require more than the world’s entire annual electricity consumption to run on a GPU cluster. 

Source: D-Wave / Science, March 2025

Logistics: Smarter Routes, Lower Costs

Volkswagen — Taxi Fleet Optimisation, Lisbon

Volkswagen partnered with D-Wave to optimise the routing of 418 taxis simultaneously, using real movement data from one of the world’s busiest cities. The live pilot was demonstrated at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. Using quantum optimisation algorithms, the system found optimal routes faster than classical algorithms for the same problem, reducing travel times and urban congestion.

The quantum advantage: Route optimisation problems grow exponentially with the number of vehicles and stops. Classical computers approximate solutions. Quantum systems find near-optimal solutions at scale.

Airbus — Aircraft Loading Optimisation

Airbus launched a Quantum Computing Challenge specifically focused on aircraft cargo loading — determining how to distribute freight across aircraft most efficiently to minimise weight imbalances and fuel consumption. Quantum algorithms demonstrated the ability to find near-optimal configurations for this class of problem, which grows exponentially in complexity as the number of items and constraints increases.

DHL — Last-Mile Delivery Route Optimisation

DHL has been actively trialling quantum algorithms for last-mile delivery route optimisation — finding the most efficient sequence of stops for delivery drivers across large urban networks. As the number of stops increases, the problem becomes computationally intractable for classical computers. Quantum optimisation handles it naturally.

Financial Services: Faster, Smarter Decisions

JPMorgan Chase — Portfolio Optimisation

JPMorgan’s quantum computing research team demonstrated that quantum algorithms (specifically QAOA — the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm) could find near-optimal solutions for portfolio optimisation problems that are computationally intractable for classical solvers at large scale. The research showed quantum approaches finding better asset allocations faster than classical methods on complex, multi-variable portfolios.

Source: JPMorgan Chase Quantum Computing Research, published 2022–2023

Goldman Sachs — Derivatives Pricing

Goldman Sachs partnered with QC Ware to explore quantum algorithms for Monte Carlo simulations used in derivatives pricing and risk modelling. Quantum-assisted sampling accelerated the calculations that underpin these models, with the potential to reduce computation time from hours to minutes for complex financial instruments.

BBVA — Investment Portfolio Optimisation

Spanish bank BBVA partnered with Multiverse Computing to run quantum experiments for investment portfolio optimisation — determining the optimal combination of assets to maximise returns while minimising risk using real market data. The quantum approach demonstrated the ability to find better portfolio allocations faster than classical optimisation methods on the same problem sets.

Life Sciences: Accelerating Drug Discovery

Boehringer Ingelheim — Molecular Simulation for Drug Discovery

Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, partnered with Google Quantum AI to explore quantum algorithms for molecular simulation in drug discovery. Using VQE (Variational Quantum Eigensolver), the collaboration focused on calculating the electronic structure of drug candidate molecules — a calculation that is critical for predicting how a drug will interact with its biological target.

The quantum advantage: Classical computers must approximate molecular energy calculations. Quantum computers model the underlying quantum mechanics directly, producing more accurate results for complex molecules.

Roche & Biogen — Quantum Chemistry Research

Both Roche and Biogen have run quantum chemistry simulations using VQE-type approaches in partnership with quantum hardware providers, exploring how quantum algorithms can accelerate the identification and validation of drug candidates at the molecular level.

Google — $10M Commitment to Life Sciences Quantum Research

In 2024, Google committed $10 million to the REPLIQA initiative, applying quantum computing to life sciences and drug development. Major pharmaceutical companies are now making strategic quantum investments as the technology transitions from research to commercial application.

What This Means for Your Business

Every example on this page shares a common thread: the problem involves finding the optimal solution across a large number of variables and constraints. Whether it is delivery routes, asset allocations, drug molecules, or cargo loading — these are all problems that grow exponentially in complexity as they scale, making them computationally intractable for classical computers.

Quantum computing solves them naturally.

The challenge for most enterprises is not that the hardware does not exist — it does. The challenge is that accessing it requires PhD-level expertise in quantum physics that almost no business has in-house.

That is precisely the problem Quantum Links AI was built to solve.

Our platform analyses your business problem, scores it for quantum readiness, and automatically routes it to the optimal compute backend — classical, quantum, or hybrid. No specialist knowledge required. No quantum team needed.

The results above are not the future. They are happening now. The question is whether your business will be part of the first wave — or the second.

To find out how quantum computing could apply to your specific business challenges, contact us.

References & Sources