Company: IONQ
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-027722
Chunk: 3

Company: IonQ, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 3
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 run complex calculations, paving the way for profound advances in virtually every realm of human experience, including information processing, communication, energy, transportation, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and industry. 

Since classical computing emerged in the mid-twentieth century, there has been exponential progress in computer design, with processing power roughly doubling every few years (Moore’s law). The true economic and social impact of computing is difficult to measure because it has so thoroughly permeated every aspect of life, altering the trajectory of society. 

However, as transformative as computing has been, many classes of problems strain the ability of classical computers, and some will never be solvable with classical computing. In this traditional binary approach to computing, information is stored in bits that are represented logically by either a 0 (off) or a 1 (on). Quantum computing uses information in a fundamentally different way than classical computing. Quantum computers are based on quantum bits (qubits), a fundamental unit that can exist in both states 0 and 1 simultaneously (superposition). As a result, we believe that quantum computers can address a set of problems classical computing may never solve. The types of problems that currently defeat classical computing include: the simulation of quantum systems (e.g., in materials science or pharmaceuticals); number factoring for decryption; and complex optimization problems. Many of these problems are fundamental, involving society’s most pressing needs, such as how to live sustainably on our planet, how to cure diseases, and how to efficiently move people and goods. Classical computers cannot solve these problems because the calculations would take far