Quantum Computing Trends and Predictions 2025 From Industry InsidersQuantum Computing Trends and Predictions 2025 From Industry Insiders

How significant will quantum computing be in 2025? Judging by the surge in predictions submitted to ITPro Today — just three for 2024 compared with 28 for 2025 — it's clear that quantum computing is set to receive much greater attention this year.

Industry leaders anticipate that 2025 will be a pivotal year for quantum computing, as advancements in post-quantum cryptography, error correction, and AI integration transform cybersecurity and innovation. These developments are pushing organizations to future-proof their infrastructures for the emerging Quantum Age, especially as we approach the much-discussed Q-Day — the moment when quantum computers could render current cryptographic methods obsolete.

However, not everyone agrees with the notion that Q-Day is imminent. ITPro Today tech expert Christopher Tozzi argues that quantum computers remain too unreliable for widespread, practical use, suggesting that 2025 won't mark the dawn of Q-Day.

Keep reading to discover what IT leaders and industry insiders are forecasting for the future of quantum computing in 2025.

Tech Industry's Predictions About Quantum Computing in 2025

Quantum Preparedness Becomes #1 Board-Level Cybersecurity Topic

In 2025, quantum preparedness will dominate boardroom discussions, becoming a top cybersecurity priority. This is not a fleeting issue like Y2K but a generational change with lasting implications. Advancements in quantum technology are raising alarm about the potential for quantum computers to break current encryption, threatening digital trust and business functionality.

The immediate challenge is identifying where machine identities — keys and certificates enabling secure machine-to-machine communication — are being used. This is the foundation of quantum readiness, as these identities must transition to quantum-resistant alternatives. For large organizations, this means replacing thousands or even hundreds of thousands of certificates. However, 64% of security leaders admit they "dread the day" the board asks about quantum migration plans, and 67% see the shift to post-quantum cryptography as a daunting task, given the lack of visibility into their certificates and keys.

The journey to quantum resilience starts. Companies will begin phasing out untrusted certificate authorities (CAs) and adopting quantum-proof systems. Platforms for certificate lifecycle management (CLM), PKI-as-a-service, and workload identity issuers are already available, offering streamlined solutions.
These tools not only secure machine identities, but also provide a strong foundation for a successful transition to a post-quantum future. — Kevin Bocek, chief innovation officer, Venafi, a CyberArk company

Organizations Will Rapidly Adopt Post-Quantum Cryptography

The cybersecurity landscape is shifting dramatically, with enterprises recognizing the critical need to transition to quantum-resistant encryption.
This migration represents a proactive approach to mitigating potential quantum computing threats, though implementing these solutions will require careful strategic planning. — Michele Mosca, founder, evolutionQ

Quantum Error Correction Advances

Quantum error correction represents a pivotal breakthrough, moving beyond theoretical concepts into practical implementation. The race to develop stable, scalable logical qubits is intensifying, with significant investments from tech giants signaling a transformative period in quantum computing. — Michele Mosca, founder, evolutionQ

New Quantum Horizons

Quantum computing is no longer just about breaking encryption. Researchers are exploring complex computational problems in fields like drug discovery, climate modeling, and advanced materials science, suggesting a broader, more transformative potential. — Michele Mosca, founder, evolutionQ

AI Accelerates Quantum Progress While Potentially Amplifying Cyber Risks

The intersection of artificial intelligence and quantum computing represents both an extraordinary opportunity and a significant challenge. AI is rapidly advancing quantum research while simultaneously creating new vectors for potential cyber threats. — Michele Mosca, founder, evolutionQ

AI's Role in Assessing and Creating New Quantum-Safe Algorithms

An immense amount of time, effort and checking and double-checking complex math went into creating the first three encryption algorithms published by NIST. Those involved in the project are eager to improve and expedite the process going forward. In an age when everyone is considering how AI can play a role in improving various processes, of course the question has come up for quantum-safe algorithms as well. However, there is a long way to go before this will be put into practice at any level. Checks and balances for AI must be determined before we can assume that AI has adequately tested a new algorithm, or has created an algorithm that is mathematically sound not just in theory but in practice as well. More discussion around this topic will take place in 2025 and likely some experimenting, but undoubtedly at some point in the future we will see AI take a more active role in developing and accessing new sets of quantum-safe algorithms. — Philip George, executive technical strategist, Infosec Global Federal

Starting Your PQC Migration Journey

A critical goal for all organizations in 2025 — whether government agencies or in the private sector — should be to understand how these three algorithms apply to different data sets and systems within their organization, and complete initial migrations and modernization efforts as appropriate. The three standards announced in 2024 are designed for two essential encryption tasks: general encryption, which is used to protect information exchanged across a public network; and digital signatures, which is used for identity authentication. Any teams that have not completed their inventory and mapping of cryptographic dependencies must do so quickly, so that they understand which new standard will work best for their various assets. This inventory is critical to creating detailed migration plans that prioritize the most sensitive and critical assets, ensuring they are first in line for upgrades to PQC standards. 

Before any migration takes place, there are a few steps quantum planning and implementation teams need to take first, including ensuring that all new systems and software are compatible with these standards. Additionally, many organizations will find that their current systems are not modern and agile enough to meet the future cadence of change in standards and specific algorithms. In the era of PQC, encryption algorithms may only be viable for one to three years, as opposed to five to 10 years as it is today. Security and IT teams need to ensure that agility is built into every aspect of their environment, from network devices to software and applications. This first migration to the three standards published by NIST will be a monumental task — there is no getting around that reality. But if teams plan properly and take the time now to build agility into their environment, they can ensure that each time new standards need to be adopted, it's a much less burdensome task. For example, install remote management tools at each individual system today so you don't have to revisit each individual system in the future.
If done correctly, adopting each new set of algorithms — whether they come every three years or every 12 months — can be more of a plug-and-play experience. — Philip George, executive technical strategist, Infosec Global Federal

Quantum Computing Begins to Threaten Current Encryption Standards

Advances in quantum computing will reach a point where they start to pose a legitimate threat to traditional encryption methods. While not yet powerful enough to break all encryption, these developments will accelerate efforts to adopt quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms. Governments and large enterprises will begin transitioning to new encryption standards to future-proof their data security. — Julian Brownlow Davies, VP, Advanced Services, Bugcrowd

Post-Quantum Cryptography

The important phrase that will become commonplace in 2025 will be "post-quantum cryptography." While the quantum epoch is still in the near future, "harvest now, decrypt later" for current cryptography will highlight the need to prepare the role out of quantum-secure algorithms as soon as possible. This will impact everywhere secure data has to flow, over public private, wired and wireless. — Brendan Bonner, innovation lead, Office of the CTO, Extreme Networks

Quantum Machine Learning Will Accelerate Drug Discovery

New quantum machine learning (QML) techniques will transform drug discovery by enabling quantum computers to perform highly accurate molecular simulations that were previously impossible with classical computing. Quantum computers will leverage quantum learning algorithms to model complex chemical reactions and molecular interactions with unprecedented precision, vastly improving our understanding of drug behavior at the atomic level. This will allow researchers to rapidly identify promising drug candidates, optimize molecular structures, and predict the effectiveness of new compounds before clinical trials. — Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO, Franz

Cybersecurity Will See New Threats — and Companies Will Augment Humans With Machine-Scale Capabilities in Response

The rise of AI also brings a new era of cybersecurity challenges. In 2025, companies must up their security postures to address entirely new types of risk introduced by AI. One such example is prompt injection attacks — where malicious inputs are disguised as legitimate user prompts in generative AI systems. According to the latest Cisco AI Readiness Index, only 30% of companies globally said they have the capabilities to tackle these threats.

And AI isn't the only factor adding pressure to security teams. Advancements in quantum computing will force companies to reckon with the vulnerabilities of traditional encryption methods to quantum-powered attacks. As quantum computing inches toward mainstream adoption in 2025, we will see organizations adopting quantum-resistant security protocols to safeguard sensitive data. And, the rise of digital ecosystems and platforms further complicates the landscape. Things are more connected than ever before — and as things become increasingly connected, the sophistication of attacks grows too. In 2025, we'll see increased risk of social engineering and supply chain attacks. 

As attackers shift their tactics to compromise users and endpoints, aiming for lateral movement to maximize the impact of their attacks, the network will become a crucial pillar of security. The network's ability to provide visibility into the environment will make it the first and last line of defense. We will see organizations integrating AI to augment human capabilities to fortify the network as a pivotal line of defense and policy enforcement. — Liz Centoni, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer, Cisco

Infrastructure Operations Need a Quantum-Safe Reset

Investment required: FOMO levels of having discovered the multiverse. Confidence: Already seeing accelerating signs. CIO sleep loss: Full insomnia mode. The internet's encryption algorithms were devised in an era where quantum computers were impractical. Given the recent advances in quantum error correction, scaled-out quantum computing clusters are now becoming a pragmatic possibility for some large nation-states and enterprises. And they pose one very big problem for all encrypted communications — they make current security schemes obsolete, making all internet and intranet traffic compromisable. Traditional encryption won't survive the quantum era. Organizations must act now to implement quantum-resistant algorithms, eventually moving to provably quantum-safe encryption. — Vijoy Pandey, SVP of Cisco's incubation and innovation engine Outshift

Quantum Computing Moves Beyond the Hype

Quantum computing is set to make significant advancements in error mitigation and correction, substantially increasing the number of computational qubits. This progress will continue to revolutionize the data and AI industry. The fields of quantum machine learning, quantum optimization, and quantum chemistry and biology stand to benefit the most. Quantum computing will also advance in its hybrid development, with Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) being further integrated with CPUs, GPUs, and LPUs. QPUs will be employed for specialized problem classes or formulations. This hybridization will inspire new approaches to classical algorithms, leading to the development of superior quantum-inspired classical algorithms. Looking ahead, investing in quantum computers promises once-in-a-century breakthroughs, unlocking unprecedented solutions and discoveries in science and physics, akin to the impact of electricity. — Bill Wisotsky, Principal Technical Architect, SAS

Quantum Computing Cryptography Challenges

Quantum computers could potentially break current encryption standards, necessitating a shift toward quantum-resistant algorithms. Organizations will invest in quantum-safe cryptography and explore quantum key distribution (QKD) to secure communications. — Dan Wilbricht, president, Optiv + ClearShark

Rise of Quantum-Inspired Cryptography

While the quantum computing revolution is still on the horizon, a more immediate concern could be quantum-inspired cryptography. Hackers may begin experimenting with quantum algorithms to solve traditional encryption problems more efficiently, weakening some existing cryptographic standards ahead of actual quantum computers. This pre-quantum era might see a rise in hybrid encryption methods that combine current and post-quantum algorithms long before full-scale quantum computers are widely available. — Sam Peters, chief product officer, ISMS.online

Post-Quantum Cryptography Will Continue to Rise in Use

It's not certain that general-purpose quantum computers will ever work at scale, but if they do, the public will probably not know about them until many years later. Such computers would completely break traditional public-key cryptography. The Intelligence Community Studies Board estimated in 2018 that these computers would be unlikely to exist before 2028, but that year is quickly approaching, and it takes years to deploy massive changes like this. Thankfully, new post-quantum algorithms have been developed and are already being used in a few applications. I expect these new post-quantum algorithms will be increasingly implemented and used in 2025. They'll usually be added as an additional (hybrid) algorithm. They are so new that it will be considered too risky to depend solely on these new algorithms. — David A. Wheeler, director of open source supply chain security, OpenSSF

Quantum Computing: On the Verge of Reality or Still a Distant Dream?

Quantum technology is picking up steam, fueled by growing investments from major tech players. While we're still years away from practical, everyday use, progress each year makes it seem more likely we'll see breakthroughs in the next 3-5 years. Considering that Moore's law has taken us to the point where transistors are just 100 atoms wide, it's not a huge stretch to imagine using a single atom as a computing unit — making the leap to quantum computing feel closer than ever. — Andrea Casotto, chief scientist, enterprise computing development, Altair

In Sync: Digital Threads Lead the Digital Twin Transformation

As digital twin technology continues to transform product design and processes, the significance of digital threads will grow immensely. Already making an impact in optimizing product development, businesses will increasingly use digital twins to monitor real-time product performance. This approach allows them to gather valuable insights from customer usage and integrate that data back into the models, continuously refining design decisions for longer product lifespans, predictive maintenance, and more. Industries such as heavy equipment, shipbuilding, and energy will be at the forefront of this shift, heavily relying on end-to-end digital threads to fully leverage the benefits of digital twins, ultimately resulting in more innovative, efficient, and customer-focused design decisions. — Christian Kehrer, business development director, Altair

Future of Cybersecurity and Quantum Computing

By 2025, the cybersecurity sector needs to adapt to the imminent threat posed by quantum computing, which could one day break traditional encryption methods. Relying solely on traditional practices like routine software updates are no longer sufficient to defend against this evolving and advanced threat. As Cryptologically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) are anticipated by 2030, the push for quantum-safe security is intensifying. Additionally, advancements in quantum computing, particularly in error correction, will make it even more vital for government agencies and companies to implement quantum-safe encryption standards now. This proactive approach will help safeguard data in a rapidly evolving quantum era, ensuring security even as technology advances and quantum computers becomes a viable threat to existing cryptographic protections. Defense that relies on quantum-safe security measures including post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) will ensure that data is protected from advanced hackers. — John Prisco, CEO, Safe Quantum

Energy Availability Will Become Key Limiting Factor for Quantum, AI, and Data Analytics Growth

As the demand for quantum computing, AI and very large scale data analytics continues to rise, the industry will hit a significant barrier: energy scarcity. By 2030, data centers could consume up to 10% of global energy, and many key regions, such as Virginia and Texas, are already nearing capacity limits. Illinois is one of the few places with available power, but even that supply is being rapidly consumed.
Future growth in these technologies will depend on securing vast amounts of clean energy, a shift in enterprise priorities towards energy efficiency, and sustainable power sources to stay competitive. — Chris Gladwin, CEO and founder, Ocient

With 'Q-Day' Approaching, It's Time for Organizations to Start Prepping

With the August release of NIST standards for post-quantum cryptography, it's "go time" for organizations that haven't yet started working on implementing the new standard. Full deployment will take time, and with some estimates of "Q-Day" (quantum computers' ability to break current encryption standards) arriving within the next decade, organizations will need to lean in to avoid getting caught off-guard. Furthermore, enterprises and individuals will need to anticipate the data compromises looming from Q-Day based on the "harvest now, decrypt later" strategies of some adversaries and hostile nation states. We do not yet know the full impact of this scenario, but it could lead to a spike in ransomware, extortion, spear phishing and other attacks. Just because sensitive information from a previous incident was not publicly released, does not mean it could not happen in the future. Preparing for Q-Day in 2025 should be a top priority for CISOs for this very reason. — Maurice Uenuma, VP & GM, Americas and security strategist, Blancco

2025's Biggest Expected Trend — Quantum Computing

Once quantum computers can crack AES-256 encryption, it will have devastating effects on all aspects of security. While quantum computing can aid in areas like weather prediction, my focus here is on its impact on security. The advancement of the technology could render many techniques in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, currently considered resilient, vulnerable to state-level attacks. Examples illustrating the potential risks include traffic encryption, extortion and leaked databases and password hashes, and the breaking of bitcoin and cryptocurrency algorithms. Organizations should begin preparing by adopting or planning to adopt post-quantum cryptography to safeguard against these emerging threats. — Sasha Gohman, VP, Research, Cymulate

Minor Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing

Several breakthroughs were made in 2024 that relate to quantum computing, although the technology still seems far away from real-world applications. The field has been of great interest to researchers for many years, however, the pace seems to have picked up in recent years. I foresee some additional minor breakthroughs that make the technology more viable in highly specific circumstances, but without any major changes to the current paradigm. — Karolis Toleikis, CEO, IPRoyal

Post-Quantum Computing Will Be the Next Security Frontier

In 2025, post-quantum computing (PQC) will take a big step forward as businesses and governments start adopting Quantum-Safe encryption to secure their data. With the National Institute of Standards and Technology having finalized the key algorithms needed for PQC, companies will soon be integrating these into their security systems. The move will also require updates like Java 21+, which is essential for managing quantum-safe encryption keys. For industries that deal with sensitive information, transitioning to quantum-resistant tech will be critical in staying ahead of emerging cybersecurity threats. — Avishai Sharlin, division president, Product and Network, Amdocs

Organizations Will Embrace AI-Driven Innovation and Cross-Platform Interoperability

The Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) sector will continue to see rapid innovation spurred by AI/ML. As vendors consolidate, interoperability will be key, with companies striving for seamless integration across platforms. The winners in this space will be those who can harness cross-domain capabilities and implement agile solutions for cloud application management, enabling tasks like application onboarding in a matter of hours. — Theis Nilsson, vice president global advisory practice, Omada

Navigating Infrastructure Complexity Will Become a Bigger Challenge

The complexity of infrastructure and system landscapes will continue to present challenges and setbacks. Companies will need to navigate competing priorities, with governance, risk and compliance investments often clashing with spending on perimeter security and efficiency-driven AI/ML initiatives. Regulation will play a crucial role in maintaining a balanced corporate focus amid these competing demands. — Theis Nilsson, vice president global advisory practice, Omada

Energy Consciousness Around AI and Quantum Will Come to the Forefront

We've heard rumblings about the environmental impact of generative AI and quantum computing, but conversations have been relatively quiet as society grasps what these technologies do in the first place and what they mean for organizations, governments, data security, etc. I predict that will change in 2025. As GenAI makes its way into becoming a core pillar of business' strategies for innovation and efficiency, we'll start to see a lot more conversations around the energy spend that GenAI requires. To set the stage for what this energy consumption looks like, ChatGPT's daily power usage is equal to about 180,000 U.S. households. To harken back to deepfakes, creating an AI-generated image uses about the same amount of energy as powering a phone. When it comes to quantum computing, the supercooling required for many types of quantum computers to run successfully is where immense amounts of energy is used. Most quantum computers need to be kept at a temperature of near absolute zero to run accurately. Warm temperatures introduce errors in quantum calculations and correcting such errors requires additional energy. There will need to be some breakthroughs in energy use if quantum is to reach widespread commercial viability. Needless to say, between AI and quantum computing, the energy and environmental impact conversation surrounding emerging technologies is going to be forced to the forefront. — Jon France, CISO, ISC2

The 2025 Quantum Security Wake-Up Call

In 2025, the threat of quantum computing will escalate, putting encrypted data at risk of being stolen and decrypted later by quantum-capable attackers. It's no longer a question of if quantum computers will be able to break the current cryptographic primitives we use everyday when accessing online services, but when. To mitigate this threat, businesses need to create a quantum threat roadmap to prepare for the post-quantum future. This roadmap should assess risks by identifying where cryptography is used in their systems and services, staying updated on NIST-approved quantum-safe algorithms, and integrating them into existing infrastructures. Budgeting for these upgrades now will mitigate future financial strain, ensuring that organizations are prepared for the inevitable technological wave to come. — Fred Rivain, CTO, Dashlane