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Statistics

Quantum Computing Investment:

Government Spending

United States:

  • National Quantum Initiative Act (2018): $1.2 billion over 5 years [Source: Congress.gov]
  • DOD Quantum Programs: $500M+/year (estimate, classified programs) [Source: Budget requests]
  • DOE Quantum Labs: $625M (5 research centers, 2020-2025) [Source: DOE]
  • Total U.S. Government: ~$3-5 billion (2018-2024)

China:

  • Estimated: $10-15 billion (2015-2024) [Source: Research papers, Chinese government announcements]
  • National Lab (Hefei): $10 billion alone
  • Military Applications: Unknown (additional and classified)

European Union:

  • Quantum Flagship: €1 billion (10 years, 2018-2028) [Source: EU Commission]

Global Total:

  • Government: ~$20-30 billion (2015-2024, all countries)

Private Investment:

Venture Capital:

  • Quantum Startups: $5.2 billion raised (2012-2023) [Source: McKinsey, PitchBook]
  • Major Players:
    • IonQ: $650M raised (incl. SPAC, $2B valuation)
    • Rigetti: $280M raised
    • D-Wave: $350M raised (incl. public offering)

Corporate R&D:

  • IBM: ~$1-2 billion cumulative (estimate)
  • Google: ~$1-2 billion (Alphabet doesn't break out quantum spending)
  • Microsoft: ~$1 billion
  • Amazon: ~$500M
  • Total Corporate: ~$5-10 billion (estimate, 2015-2024)

Total Private:

  • ~$10-15 billion (VC + corporate)

Combined Total Investment:

  • Global Quantum Investments: ~$30-45 billion (2015-2024)
  • Annual Rate: Increasing (~$5-10B/year currently)

Data Storage Capacity (Surveillance):

NSA Utah Data Center:

  • Size: 1-1.5 million sq ft [Source: News reports, NSA public statements]
  • Storage: Estimated 3-12 exabytes (exact capacity classified)
    • 1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes
    • 12 exabytes = enough for 12 trillion GB of data
  • What That Holds: Billions of emails, phone calls, and years of internet traffic

Other NSA Facilities:

  • Fort Meade (MD): ~5 exabytes (estimate)
  • San Antonio (TX): Unknown capacity
  • Augusta (GA): Unknown
  • Total NSA: Estimated 20-50 exabytes (across all facilities)
Global Surveillance Storage:

Five Eyes Total:

  • U.S. + UK + Canada + Australia + New Zealand
  • Combined: Estimated 50-100 exabytes
  • GCHQ (UK): Tempora program (stores 3 days of all UK internet traffic)

China:

  • Public Security Data Centers: Unknown capacity (classified)
  • Estimate: 50-100 exabytes (at least, possibly more)
  • Social Credit System: Requires massive storage
What This Stores:

12 Exabytes Can Hold:

  • 12 trillion: 1-page text emails
  • Or: 600 billion 20-MB photos
  • Or: 6 billion hours of voice calls
  • Or: 3 billion hours of video

Scale:

  • Every Person on Earth: Could have 1,500 GB of data stored
  • Or: Every American: 36,000 GB each
Encryption Usage:

HTTPS Adoption:

  • 2014: ~30% of web traffic encrypted [Source: Google Transparency Report]
  • 2024: ~95% of web traffic encrypted
  • Driven by: Let's Encrypt (free SSL certificates, 2016+), browser warnings

Encrypted Messaging:

  • WhatsApp: 2 billion users (end-to-end encrypted, 2016+) [Source: Meta]
  • Signal: 40+ million users (E2EE)
  • iMessage: 1+ billion users (E2EE)
  • Telegram: 900M users (only "secret chats" E2EE)

Total Encrypted Communications:

  • Estimate: 80-90% of internet traffic now encrypted (vs. <20% in 2013)

But:

  • Metadata: Still collected (who, when, and how long, not content)
  • Encryption Keys: Sometimes held by companies (not true E2EE)
  • Quantum: Will break most encryption algorithms (RSA and elliptic curve)
Quantum Computer Progress:

Qubit Count (Over Time):

Year Leading System Qubits
2019 Google Sycamore 53
2021 IBM Eagle 127
2022 IBM Osprey 433
2023 IBM Condor 1,121
2024 Atom Computing 1,180 (claimed)

[Sources: Company announcements, research papers]

Qubits Needed to Break Encryption:

RSA-2048 (Current Standard):

  • Classical Computer: 300 trillion years (with current algorithms)
  • Quantum Computer: Estimated 20 million qubits (with error correction)
    • Or: 4,000-6,000 "logical qubits" (after error correction)
  • Current Systems: 1,000 qubits (need 4,000-20,000x more)

Timeline Estimates:

  • Optimistic: 10-15 years (by 2034-2039)
  • Realistic: 20-30 years (by 2044-2054)
  • Pessimistic: 30-50 years (by 2054-2074)
  • Breakthrough: Could happen anytime (unknown unknowns)

Post-Quantum Migration Status:

Adoption Rate:

  • Apple (iMessage): Started migration (2024, PQ3 protocol)
  • Google (Chrome): Testing post-quantum TLS (2023-2024)
  • Signal: Implemented PQXDH (2023)
  • Most Systems: Not yet migrated (<5% adoption)

Timeline:

  • NIST: Recommends migration by 2030-2035
  • Experts: Say should be done by 2030 (before quantum breaks encryption)
  • Reality: Will take 10-20 years (legacy systems, coordination problems)

FISA Section 702 (Foreign Intelligence):

  • Authorized: 2008 (post-Patriot Act)
  • Targets: Foreign persons (but collects Americans' communications)
  • Annual Queries: 3.4 million (2021) [Source: ODNI transparency report]
    • 119,383: Queries for U.S. persons (2021)

National Security Letters (NSLs):

  • Issued: 10,000-15,000/year [Source: DOJ reports]
  • Gag Orders: Recipients can't disclose (most cases)
  • Used for: Metadata (subscriber info and connection records)

PRISM (Still Operating):

  • Started: 2007 (revealed 2013)
  • Partners: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Skype, YouTube, and AOL
  • Still Active: (post-reform, but legal under Section 702)
Snowden Impact:

Before Snowden (2013):

  • Americans: Largely unaware of mass surveillance
  • Metadata Collection: Secret (no public knowledge)

After Snowden:

  • USA FREEDOM Act (2015): Ended bulk phone metadata collection (supposedly)
  • But: Section 702 still allows for collection (with "incidental" Americans)
  • Encryption Adoption: Spiked (HTTPS went from 30% → 95%)

NSA Response:

  • Continued: "About" collection (2017, supposedly ended after the abuse)
  • Continued: Upstream and PRISM (legal under 702)
  • Added: Quantum research (prepare for encryption-breaking future)