Definition
A term coined by John Preskill in 2018 describing the current era of quantum computing. NISQ devices have 50-10,000 qubits but no error correction, and can demonstrate quantum effects but not yet run cryptographically significant algorithms.
In Depth
NISQ devices have enough qubits to do interesting things but too much noise to do them reliably for long computations. Algorithm research has focused on what NISQ can usefully accomplish: variational quantum algorithms (VQE, QAOA), quantum chemistry simulations, near-term optimization. The NISQ era is expected to last until fault-tolerant quantum computing arrives (millions of qubits with QEC), likely the 2030s or beyond depending on hardware progress.
Example Usage
Running a 12-qubit Variational Quantum Eigensolver on an IBM NISQ device to estimate the ground-state energy of LiH molecule. It is useful research, but not commercially viable yet.
Business Context
NISQ-era expectations matter for any commercial quantum effort. Investing in NISQ algorithms is reasonable, but expecting Shor's-algorithm-on-real-RSA in this era is not.
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