Today at the Forum for Future Technologies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin was shown through the country's current state in quantum computing — and it might be more developed than many would initially believe. Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation that's the main governmental body responsible for coordinating national efforts relating to technological innovation, showcased what it says is a 16-qubit trapped-ion-based quantum computer. And according to Rosatom's own press release on the matter, they've already run useful, molecule-simulating computations on it. The Russian processor is said to use the same quantum annealing technology that's been shown to be impressively useful for military applications.
There's quite a bit to digest here, assuming we don't have another "quantum, but not really" situation on our hands - one that mirrors Iran's recent attempt to shine a light on its quantum computing capabilities that, amusingly, backfired. (Perhaps someone in Iran should have read our "What is Quantum Computing" article.)
