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Quantum computers have made a massive splash over the past years, with quantum computing projects racking up billions of dollars in private and public investment. But according to a small group of physicists, quantum computers will never scale to any meaningful level. Let’s take a look at their reasoning.

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Some physicists argue quantum computers may never work at scale due to fundamental limitations. Skeptics like Gil Kalai, Robert Alicki, and Leonid Levin point to inevitable noise and error correction challenges. Others like Steven Weinstein, Gerard 't Hooft, and Tim Palmer believe quantum mechanics itself may be fundamentally discrete, limiting quantum computers to perhaps 500-1000 logical qubits. Models like spontaneous localization suggest decoherence could prevent practical algorithms on large devices. While this remains a minority view, the skepticism highlights that large-scale quantum computing operates in untested territory where quantum effects at massive scales have never been measured.

These Physicists Believe Quantum Computers Will Never Work