Quantum computing hype is everywhere. Trump says we&#x27;ll have one by 2028, Microsoft by 2029. IBM is investing billions. Is it really happening? Science journalist Sophia Chen joins us to discuss her article, &quot;What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing — yet,&quot; and break down what&#x27;s real and what&#x27;s hype in the quantum computing race. Further reading ⁠Meta is reportedly working on smart glasses that would be recording all the time⁠ ⁠Sonos laid off some of its veteran product and design executives⁠ ⁠Cash App fraud⁠ ⁠Starlink deployments on record pace⁠ ⁠Play-Doh for adults is the new Lego for adults⁠ ⁠Slate is hoping a little Razzmatazz will help sell its trucks⁠ ⁠What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing — yet⁠ ⁠A new paper argues Microsoft exaggerated its quantum claims a year ago⁠ ⁠Drama over quantum computing’s future heats up⁠ ⁠The race is on for quantum-safe cryptography⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Time to believe the quantum computing hype?

The Vergecast

Hello and welcome to The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of probabilistic computing. I'm Jay Kastronakis, executive editor of The Verge, and today we are talking about quantum computers. Quantum is hot right now. Trump just issued an executive order saying that America, quote, stands at the cusp of a quantum revolution. The order demands that America accelerate deployment and commercialization of quantum computing. Meanwhile, his science advisor promised that the U.S. government will develop a computer, quote,

powerful enough for scientific discovery by 2028. Meanwhile, Microsoft just unveiled Majorana 2, its second generation quantum computing chip. Last year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that its team had created a new state of matter that had only been theorized 100 years ago. This year, the new Majorana 2 chip has apparently, quote, put the team on a path to achieve a scalable quantum computer that is commercially valuable by 2029.

These are big, ambitious goals. Like I said, quantum is hot right now. There are a lot of big promises and a lot of money flowing into the space. We were really interested in what's real and what's the hype. So we had science writer Sophia Chen dig into this for us. She's joining me today along with Verge tech editor Marina Galparina. But first, here's what's happening on The Verge today. This is 90 seconds on The Verge for Thursday, July 9th, 2026.

It's only July, but Anthropic has launched what my colleague Hayden Field is calling Claude Wrapped. It's a new dashboard that shows how much time you're using Claude, your top days, how much time you're spending, that sort of thing. If you're using Claude enough to bother checking this feature, you might want to take a break.

Time to believe the quantum computing hype?

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Time to believe the quantum computing hype?

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.