UK cracks down on quantum computing exports to hostile nations

BRITAIN is cracking down on quantum computing exports to China and other hostile nations amid new economic security fears.

Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, is launching a new review of exports and of overseas investments made by British companies in an effort to prevent “capital from the UK being invested in another country where we believe it will enhance, for example, military end-use capabilities”.

Firms dealing in cryogenic equipment, which is used in quantum computing, will face more scrutiny, as will deals involving semiconductors, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.

Exports and investments face extra checks under national security rules if the technology involved could “have a dual use and [could] be advantageous to foreign intelligence agencies”.

“Cryogenics – the ability to reduce temperatures to near kelvin zero – is something that 10 years ago was purely for research purposes, but with the advent of quantum computing is a key part of that,” Mr Dowden said.

“If we are innovating at the very cutting edge of that, we need to be mindful that if we allow that to be exported without controls to adversaries, that could lead to an uplift in their capabilities. It is no different to if we had designed some ... advanced weapon 40 or 50 years ago, we would not allow that to be freely exported to ... adversaries.”

Quantum computing is significant because of fears the technology could allow hackers to bypass security on Western IT systems. Last year, a Chinese hacking group was found to have compromised the email accounts of hundreds of US officials, including the commerce secretary and the American ambassador to China, via an attack on their corporate Microsoft account. One possibility is that a quantum supercomputer could have enabled the raid.

Consultations on the new definitions of sensitive technologies will begin in the coming weeks, Mr Dowden will say in a speech at Chatham House today.

It marks the latest crackdown after an about-turn for British trade policy. Nine years ago, David Cameron, then the prime minister and now Foreign Secretary, hailed a “golden year for Britain and China” as economic ties bound the countries more closely together.

Since then fears have grown over Beijing’s treatment of trading partners, using its economic clout for military and political leverage. “Economic coercion has been used by China recently in relation to Lithuania,” Mr Dowden said, referring to China’s move to impede exports to the Baltic state in retaliation for its decision to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy.