More than 300 companies worldwide are now actively working with quantum technology vendors on a machine that fits in a lab and runs colder than outer space, and the dollar figure analysts just put on what it could produce by 2035 landed far higher than almost anyone expected

The machine that barely anyone uses but everyone is watchingThere are now more than 40 commercially available quantum processing units globally, and more than 300 organizations are already collaborating with quantum technology vendors. What it actually costs to play in this space right nowOver 300 companies worldwide, including Airbus, JPMorgan Chase, and Boehringer Ingelheim, are now actively working with quantum technology vendors to address commercial challenges. It is the central engineering challenge that determines whether quantum computing transitions from laboratory achievement to an industrial tool. Investment in quantum technology start-ups reached $12.6 billion in 2025, 6.3 times higher than in 2024, according to McKinsey’s 2026 Quantum Technology Monitor, with revenues on track to more than quadruple by 2028. For most Americans, quantum computing is still an abstraction, something that lives in a press release or a science segment.