Intel Corporation, the US-based multi-national manufacturer of semi-conductor microchips, is to invest $50 million in quantum computing that it says could “radically advance complex problem-solving”.

Intel will undertake a decade-long collaboration with Delft University of Technology (in the Netherlands) and TNO (the Dutch Organisation for Applied Research), to “make real the kind of quantum computing that could tackle seemingly insurmountable problems”.

Mike Mayberry, managing director of Intel Labs, said that potential applications include “intricate simulations” such as large-scale financial analysis and more-effective drug development.

“A fully functioning quantum computer is at least a dozen years away, but the practical and theoretical research efforts we’re announcing today mark an important milestone in the journey to bring it closer to reality,” he said.

Mr Mayberry added: “Unlike digital computers, quantum computers use quantum bits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously, offering the potential to compute a large number of calculations all at once, speeding up results.”