The keynote panel at Datacloud USA took a bold leap into the future, exploring how quantum technologies will reshape digital infrastructure. Moderator Dan Caruso, founding partner and former CEO of Zayo Group, set the tone early with a striking statement: “AI is so yesterday – we are going to live in the quantum world.”
While artificial intelligence continues to dominate headlines, the panel highlighted that quantum innovation is evolving rapidly, and its impact will extend far beyond computing. From quantum sensing to quantum networking and next-generation infrastructure, the emerging quantum ecosystem promises to transform how we process information, interact with technology, and build data centres.
When most people hear ‘quantum,’ they think of quantum computing. But the panel stressed that we’re still in the early stages of the journey. Thierry Pellegrino, global head of advanced computing at AWS, drew a compelling historical analogy, “We are effectively in the computing era of the 1950s with regards to quantum.”
The panel stressed that whilst foundational breakthroughs are happening now, mainstream adoption is still some time away.
Caruso referenced comments made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in January 2025, where Huang stated, “Very useful quantum computers are still a few decades away,”. The remark triggered a drop in quantum computing stock prices, raising concerns across the industry.
However, Sam Stanwyck, group product manager of quantum computing at Nvidia, responded that Huang’s full remarks were misinterpreted.
“I’d encourage people to listen to the full comment. Huang talked for four or five minutes about quantum computing and how excited he was about it and how he saw Nvidia has a huge role in helping quantum computing be successful, and so that that line was taken out of context.’
Stanwyck added, “I joined Nvidia four years ago to work on Quantum. Every year since then, our investment in quantum has gone up exponentially.”
AI and quantum: partners or competitors?
One of the central questions posed during the panel was whether AI and quantum technologies are destined to compete or collaborate. The consensus? These fields are not just compatible, they are mutually reinforcing.
Pranav Gokhale, CTO at Infleqtion, commented: “AI has been a massive, large multiplier for quantum development itself. There’s been a number of different mechanisms using reinforcement learning, even using ChatGPT to provide compilation services for quantum computers, where, I think generally, we’re seeing that the pace of innovation in quantum is faster than it’s ever been before.’
He continued, “The other piece is that I think there’s very deep connections into where quantum will actually supercharge AI. At their core, quantum mechanics and modern day machine learning are really about linear algebra, and quantum gives some ways to speed up those matrix multiplications, those matrix factorisations in ways that even GPU can’t.
“In the future, I think that quantum will act as a co-processor alongside GPU that enables the two together to solve problems that individually, neither would be able to do, but together they can unlock new markets, unlock new applications, etc.’
A quantum warning: encryption at risk
While the panel was optimistic about the benefits, panellists also highlighted that quantum has the potential to pose serious security risks.
Gokhale commented, “Quantum is going to bring great things but it will also bring side effects we should be aware of. One of them is breaking encryption. Over the last year or so we have been working with the intelligence community in the US to make sure they are kept appraised of the threat of quantum.’
He continued, “Our intent is to share awareness and inform of a timeline for which enterprise, academia, the government etc has to migrate to methods that are safe from quantum attacks.”
The message was clear: post-quantum cryptography is no longer a theoretical concern, it is a pressing challenge requiring coordinated effort across sectors.
Power and scale
The question of energy efficiency looms large in the discussion of quantum infrastructure. Panellists highlighted that despite their cutting-edge nature, quantum computers can operate at power levels comparable to household appliances.
They referenced Google’s 2019 quantum supremacy achievement, where a quantum computer solved a specific problem in five minutes, a task that would have taken the world’s fastest supercomputer around two weeks, consuming vastly more power. Subsequent experiments have only widened this performance and efficiency gap.
However, the panel believe that quantum computers will not replace classical systems anytime soon. Instead, they’ll function as specialised tools, working alongside GPUs and CPUs to solve problems that traditional architectures cannot handle efficiently.
Investor confidence and market momentum
Quantum technology continues to capture the attention of investors, with several companies reaching multibillion-dollar valuations. Firms like IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave have either gone public or are preparing to do so, with valuations reportedly ranging from several billion dollars to over $15 billion.
Meanwhile, private investment rounds are accelerating, signalling strong confidence in quantum’s long-term potential to disrupt industries from healthcare to finance and beyond.
Do today’s data centres need to build for quantum?
One pressing question for enterprise leaders: Should today’s data centres be built with quantum in mind?
The panel’s answer was pragmatic: not yet. Full-scale quantum-ready infrastructure is still premature. However, staying engaged and informed is essential.
Pellegrino closed the discussion with a warning for enterprises. “If you’re not keeping track of quantum, you might blink and you’ll miss it.”
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