By Dan Rabb | Bisnow
An emerging technology drawing billions of dollars of investment from the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft is spurring a new real estate sector — and it isn’t AI.
Quantum computing, once seen as a moon shot, is now hurtling toward commercial viability. It is generating new research, computing and manufacturing hubs in markets that have sat out the artificial intelligence boom, and it is ultimately expected to become a significant part of the data center sector.
Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems far beyond the capabilities of today’s most powerful supercomputers. It could be transformative for industries that depend on modeling extraordinarily complex systems, from drug discovery to cybersecurity to financial services and climate science.
After decades of research, within the past 24 months, the idea of commercially available quantum computing has gone from pipe dream to probable.
Industry leaders broadly agree the technology is approaching “quantum advantage,” the point at which a quantum computer solves a specific, real-world problem faster, more cheaply and more accurately than the most powerful conventional supercomputers.
JLL, which released a report last week on the quantum real estate sector, expects quantum advantage for commercial applications to emerge between 2030 and 2032. S&P Global anticipates a similar timeline.
“Quantum computing is hovering on the brink of its breakout moment, with paradigm-shifting implications for every industry that relies on compute,” S&P Global analysts Ellie Brown and Kelly Morgan wrote in a recent report.
Quantum may still be experimental, but a $70B global wave of investment in this burgeoning technology is already driving the emergence of what JLL analysts call “quantum real estate” as a distinct subsector.
This emerging real estate sector includes research labs, data centers and fabrication sites — all of the infrastructure needed to support quantum computing. There are already more than 240 such facilities worldwide, and there are more on the way, with a $4B construction pipeline
