"If you want to use a quantum computer via the cloud, you have to pay $100 per minute. Freely using it for experiments is realistically very difficult."
Kwon Tae-ho, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) who is conducting protein structure optimization research, described the reality of Korea's quantum ecosystem in an interview with the Seoul Economic Daily on the 20th of this month. Kwon is researching how to precisely identify the ways drug candidate molecules bind to proteins and which structures are more suitable during the drug candidate screening process. "If conventional computers have an advantage in quickly narrowing down promising candidates, quantum computers are better at examining at the molecular level whether those candidates will actually work well," he said.
The problem is cost. For researchers who require repeated experiments, the overseas quantum computer cloud usage fee of around $100 per minute is a prohibitively high barrier. "Some companies offer free access for around 10 minutes, but that is woefully insufficient for actual research," Kwon said. "It is not easy to absorb such high costs in research conducted under government-funded projects."
These cost barriers are causing the gap in the quantum industry to widen sharply from the outset. Global big tech companies with ample capital are actively embracing quantum computing. Global quantum firms are racing to secure first-mover advantages in industry-specific applications spanning pharmaceuticals, batteries, finance and logistics. IonQ is expanding its industrial reach through partnerships with AstraZeneca, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Nvidia, while IBM operates the IBM Quantum Network with more than 300 network members and over 65 commercial partner startups, accumulating real-world use cases.
According to the government's "2025 Quantum White Paper," the quantum hardware market is projected to grow at an annual average rate of 12.2% from 2025 to 2035, while application software is expected to expand from 1.75 trillion won ($1.3 billion) to 16.13 trillion won ($11.7 billion) over the same period, growing at an annual average of 24.9%. The Quantum Computing as a Service (QCaaS) market is also forecast to grow from 305.9 billion won to 3.87 trillion won, representing annual average growth of 28.9%.
Overseas, efforts to verify which real-world industrial problems can be solved with quantum computing are accumulating rapidly, but domestic researchers and startups are unable to even obtain demonstration opportunities due to cost barriers.
Research institutions that find it difficult to establish long-term cooperation with global quantum companies and must carry out projects within limited budgets struggle to fully utilize quantum computers. Due to insufficient infrastructure for free experimentation domestically, many researchers conduct preliminary verification using simulators and access overseas cloud services only when absolutely necessary. However, high costs often prevent them from conducting sufficient repeated experiments and verification.
Within Korea, only some large corporations that can relatively absorb the costs have entered the quantum ecosystem.
SK Telecom has formed a strategic alliance with U.S.-based IonQ and is pursuing cooperation in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. LG Electronics joined the IBM Quantum Network and subsequently began joint research on industrial quantum algorithms and core hardware technology with France's Pasqal. Hyundai Motor is collaborating with IonQ to simulate the structure and reactions of lithium compounds for electric vehicle batteries. Companies are focusing on quantum technology because it is showing new possibilities in areas where conventional computing has clear limitations, including optimization, molecular simulation, new materials discovery, financial calculations and security.
Concerns are growing that Korea could miss the golden window for the quantum industry if costs continue to hold back quantum research. Recognizing this gap, the government announced a comprehensive quantum plan in January this year that includes developing foundational quantum computer technology and expanding industrial applications in automotive, pharmaceutical, finance and other sectors. The plan includes IonQ establishing a joint research center in Korea and receiving $5 million in annual investment over three years. The concept is to fill the gap until domestically developed quantum computers are fully deployed in industry through cooperation with overseas companies. An official at the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) said, "If the plan with IonQ materializes, the cost of quantum technology use for domestic researchers and companies could drop significantly from current levels," adding, "Through this, we will increase use cases among general companies and researchers."
However, growing dependence on foreign services could raise data sovereignty issues, as sensitive scientific and technological data in fields such as bio and materials may need to be stored on overseas quantum computing services.
An industry official said, "We need to accelerate the development of domestically built quantum computers, but at the same time, the key question is how frequently, cheaply and freely researchers and companies can use the technology to accumulate use cases," adding, "Building an ecosystem that connects scattered research, materials-components-equipment companies, investment and demand is urgent."