Allstate Prepares for Quantum Computing Arrival

Insurance company Allstate is investing in quantum computing now so that the company is ready to take advantage of the technology when it arrives, Allstate Chair, President and CEO Tom Wilson told The Wall Street Journal in a report published Friday (Aug. 14).

Allstate plans to expand its quantum team that currently includes 10 people. The team is exploring the use of quantum computing for tasks such as determining prices that better reflect the underlying level of risk for policies, according to the report.

Wilson said in the report that he doesn’t know when quantum computing will begin to deliver on its promise, but that he is certain it will do so.

“It will work,” Wilson said, per the report. “Will it be as effective as everybody wants? I don’t know. But if it’s going to be available, then I need to start thinking about it coming even before I know exactly when it’s going to get there.”

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a CNBC interview posted in late July that quantum computing will soon be a source of growth for IBM.

“I think that in 2028 or 2029, you’ll see it have a measurable impact on our top line and bottom line,” Krishna said. “By the end of the 2030s, we are now pretty convinced this is a trillion dollars of value.”

Krishna’s comments came on the same day IBM and startup Algorithmiq announced new research that they said “demonstrates that quantum computers can provide trusted solutions more efficiently, more cheaply or more accurately than leading classical compute methods, which has long been considered a key milestone in the field.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced in May that it planned to provide $2.013 billion in federal incentives to nine companies to support and accelerate their development of quantum computing.

“With today’s CHIPS Research and Development investments in quantum computing, the [President Donald] Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the time in a press release. “These strategic quantum technology investments will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities.”

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