From the 20th Internet Governance Forum and WSIS+20 Outcome Document Resolution to global investment themes and TIME’s Person of the Year, artificial intelligence (AI) dominated news headlines, corporate announcements, and national strategies across the globe. As AI went mainstream in 2025, it was a misfortune that such an umbrella term put a number of other technological capabilities under its shade, even during the year which the United Nations proclaimed as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ).
In recognition of 100 years since the initial development of quantum mechanics, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution in May 2024 to declare IYQ 2025 for raising public awareness of quantum and its critical role in developing sustainable solutions in energy, education, communications, and human health.
Quantum discussions are already surfacing as they shift from discovery to delivery this year, with the quantum economy being a trending term at Davos 2026. In CES 2026, the half-day programming track of Quantum Means Business unveiled that this technology has reached enough maturity to be commercialized and mainstreamed. It is essential to be cognizant of the quantum reality as it dawns after a century of scientific progress.
What is Quantum?
Quantum mechanics studies particle behaviors and the principles of superposition, entanglement, and interference. By leveraging these fundamental properties, quantum technology initializes, manipulates, and measures quantum system states using quantum algorithms and qubits (i.e., quantum bits). The 2022 Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs in quantum entanglement and teleportation have propelled this science from theory to technological applications.
With quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing being the three key subfields of this technology as of date, quantum advancement is set to fundamentally disrupt and transform innovations of today, not least in the respective contexts of AI, the Internet, and semiconductors.
Quantum Computing and AI
Quantum computers, in comparison to the latest digital supercomputers, offer astronomical leaps in computational capabilities. While digital computers employ binary processing of 0s or 1s, quantum computing processing leverages 0s, 1s, or a superposition state being 0 and 1 simultaneously. The shift from classical bits to qubits brings exponential scales in processing efficiency and power from the outset.
Although the vast majority of quantum advantages are yet to be uncovered or well-established, quantum computing and AI already present a considerable symbiotic relationship. Quantum computing helps accelerate AI processing and training models while reducing computational burden and energy consumption. On the other hand, AI betters the prediction, benchmarking, and remediation of quantum system behaviors under different conditions and anomalies, enhancing the development, optimization, and applications of quantum computing.
As McKinsey estimated that the entire quantum market size could reach $100 billion by 2035, quantum computing could be worth $72 billion in a decade from the $4 billion-revenue recorded in 2024. Most recently in December 2025, Singaporean start-up Horizon Quantum Computing became the first quantum software company to own and run a quantum computer.
Quantum Communication and the Internet
Most prominently, quantum communication bolsters encryption technologies with applications like quantum key distribution (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Since QKD encodes data using qubits, not only are classical computers of today not able to detect and decode the encrypted data, but quantum computers would also not be able to break quantum cryptographic keys.
On the flip side, such a shift also poses systemic threats to cybersecurity as its (eventual) computational and decryption capability could compromise existing digital encryption and authentication systems. Therefore, we can see lately that the G7 Cyber Expert Group (CEG) in January 2026 is advising G7 finance ministers and central bank governors for a coordinated quantum-resistant migration and transition to cryptographic agility.
With QKD currently under development and yet to be standardized, PQC is a more viable application to encrypt information and fend off cybersecurity threats, such as Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL). Current PQC employs quantum-resistant algorithms, which is significant because most public key cryptography (PKC) algorithms in use today could be compromised by quantum computers.
In South Korea, ID Quantique and SK Broadband deployed the world’s first country-wide QKD that connected 48 government departments over a single converged network in 2022. The year 2025 has also seen the commercial launches of hybrid quantum-safe (PQC-QKD) networks from Singapore and South Korea.
Beyond encryption, advancements in quantum satellites are set to revolutionize next-generation communication technologies – and eventually realize what is now dubbed the quantum Internet, where networks of quantum devices are connected to transmit and distribute data.
In 2025, a record-setting 12,900 km connection was made between ground stations in China and South Africa via China’s quantum microsatellite. Other developments include the launch of a UK-Singapore quantum satellite to space in November and the initiation of India’s first indigenous quantum-secure satellite. We could potentially see the initial governance discussions of quantum networks surfacing as the deliberations on defining IMT-2030 (6G mobile technology) technical performance requirements and evaluations conclude in 2026.
Quantum Sensing and Semiconductor
Quantum sensing in 2026 is the most advanced technology among the three, where it exploits atomic properties (e.g., magnetic fields, time and temperature) to measure most physical dimensions with breakthrough precision. Across the multitude of use cases already commercially available – from quantum-enhanced MRIs in the healthcare sector, quantum gravimeters for meteorology, climatology and seismology, to the introduction of quantum diamond microscopes (QDMs) enabled the production of next-generation semiconductors. QDM creates precise 3D images of magnetic fields within chips, detecting faults without causing any damage at room temperature and with a simpler setup.
The several recent developments from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), including advanced quantum tunneling exploitation techniques announced with Quantum eMotion, continue to push performance boundaries. With advancements in chips being the core of modern technological capability upgrades, quantum semiconductor innovations are slated to propel the capability of electronics across all fields.
Quantum and Youth
With the advent of quantum commercialization, this foundational technology is set to bring seismic transformations to our lives. The quantum-AI convergence will further complicate the burgeoning debates on AI governance while whipping up perpetual policy conversations over spectrum, Internet protocol (IP), data processing, and cybersecurity.
Therefore, it is important to ensure fair seats at the table where no community is left out of its governance and application trajectories. UNESCO is already sounding the alarm that with most quantum innovations and international cooperation currently led by a few countries that traditionally dominate across policy, research, investment, and human capital resources, “quantum divide” would pose further challenges to global inequalities and universal rights. More consequentially, the dual-use nature of quantum technologies could exacerbate the volatile geopolitical pendulum that puts world peace and human rights in further jeopardy.
For youth, continuous meaningful participation in policymaking processes and forward-looking quantum education are essential. As a start, congratulations to you on reading this Digest.
The quantum ecosystem is also growing with investments such as those by IBM and universities in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to prepare 40,000 students for careers in quantum computing. Meanwhile, India, followed by the European Union and China, is leading in the number of quantum-relevant graduates. On the occasion of International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has also embarked on new programs such as the Quantum World Tour, the Quantum for Good track at the AI for Good Global Summit, and making available multilingual free online courses.
Ahead of the IYQ Closing Ceremony celebrating and reflecting on the quantum legacy on February 10 and 11, watch the Open Forum: Understanding Quantum Reality held at Davos 2026. Among the panelists is Singapore’s Digital Minister Josephine Teo, who addressed the agency of young people –
“Within your own spheres of influence, together with your friends, with your peers, in the classes that you attend, in the jobs that you will engage in, you have something within you that can be the seeds of change.”
Are you prepared to drive our future and take the quantum leap?
NetMission Digest – 2026: Issue #2 (Feb 5, 2026)
Written by Kenneth Leung (Reviewed by Jenie Fernando)