Can quantum computing be used in the real world?

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Alphabet rose after Google announced a “breakthrough” quantum chip.
Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, rose 6% on Tuesday, a day after the company hailed its latest quantum computing chips as a “breakthrough.” Alphabet on Monday unveiled its “Willow” chip, which performed a calculation in less than five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years — a 1 followed by 25 zeros — Google said.

The former South Korean Defense Minister attempts suicide. Police raid the presidential office
The fallout from South Korean President Yeon Suk-yul's brief imposition of martial law continues amid reports of a raid on his office and an attempt by his former defense minister to commit suicide. Police reportedly searched the president's office on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the six-hour martial law declaration. Separately, former Defense Minister Kim Young-hyun reportedly made an assassination attempt at his detention center in eastern Seoul.

China intensifies Wall Street meetings before Trump's inauguration
Chinese Vice Premier He Leveng met with several US financial executives last month, as Beijing seeks to build relationships ahead of tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump intends to impose on China. Some meetings are held with senior executives from BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup.

The Dow Jones Index records its fourth straight day of losses
US markets fell on Tuesday with the S&P 500 losing 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.25%, with both indexes suffering back-to-back losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a fourth day, down 0.35%. Asian markets were mixed, with most major indices remaining within range.

(PRO) Trump's proposed tariffs could cause unintended consequences: Bernstein
Bernstein found that Trump's proposed tariffs could have unintended consequences for some brands, such as negative sentiment from Chinese consumers that could hurt U.S. companies' sales in that country.

What is quantum computing, and how does it work?

In classical computing, information is stored in bits. Each bit is either one or zero. Quantum computing uses quantum bits, or qubits, that can be zero, one, or something in between.

If you think this sounds like something from the Marvel multiverse, you're not alone. Every time a company hits a breakthrough in quantum computing, like Alphabet's Willow chip, the million-dollar question is: “What can it be used for?”

Will we see faster laptops, faster smartphones, or could quantum computing be used for AI applications? Will we be able to say, “Open the capsule bay doors please, Hal?” To a quantum computer?

Proponents of quantum computing claim that it will be able to solve problems that current computers cannot. The theory is that quantum computers will be able to process much larger amounts of data, leading to potential breakthroughs in fields such as medicine, science and finance.

Alphabet shares rose 6% on Tuesday, but could this enthusiasm be unfounded? After all, if there are no real uses for quantum computing right now, it's not possible to introduce a solution to solve the problems, let alone commercialize it.

In short, quantum computing must have a purpose. It needs a “ChatGPT moment,” as one analyst told CNBC, where people can benefit from the technology like how chatbot software has allowed the world to experience artificial intelligence tangibly.

Maybe HAL will have to wait for a while. Which, as fans of Stanley Kubrick's epic “2001: A Space Odyssey” might know, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

— CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.