Status Report (The Intel)
Quantum-safe encryption ran on real internet cables and nothing broke
PacketLight and NEC ran quantum key distribution alongside live 400G telecom traffic without slowing it down. No dramatic failures while quantum-safe keys rode along as if they belonged there the whole time. Woo-hoo!
The Royal Navy took quantum navigation to the Arctic to see if it would survive
The Royal Navy tested GPS-free quantum navigation using cold atoms in a place that is cold, remote, and generally hostile to fragile technology. It worked. That’s the entire story, and it’s more impressive than it sounds.
Chile decided quantum belongs in the “real economy” category
Chile rolled out a ten-year quantum and biotech strategy, which is government-speak for “we plan to fund this and expect it to matter.” Quantum is slowly graduating from science project to infrastructure.
Michigan got $9M to build sensors we’ll pretend were obvious later
The University of Michigan picked up a $9 million grant for distributed quantum sensing. Right now it’s research. Later it’ll be something everyone assumes had to exist.
How it Works: Quantum Measurement
Think about a Snapchat you haven’t opened yet.
It could be a selfie, rant, or something you IMMEDIATELY regret seeing. 🥴
Right now, all of those possibilities are still alive.
The moment you tap it, reality snaps into place.
Now it’s one specific thing. Snapchat marks it as seen. The countdown starts. Whatever it was before you opened it is no longer available for inspection.
There’s no safe preview mode, “just looking,” and there’s def no rewind.
Opening the message is the whole event.
That’s exactly what quantum measurement is like.
When scientists measure a quantum system, they don’t gently check on it. They force it to pick an outcome. All the fragile information that existed beforehand disappears the moment it’s observed.
This is why quantum systems are so temperamental. It’s also why building a useful quantum computer feels like babysitting something that immediately panics when you look at it.
In the quantum world, observation is more like tapping the screen and accepting whatever you get.
Investment Watch
Not terribly much happened over the holiday season!
SEALSQ expands its Quantum Investment Fund to > $100M
SEALSQ Corp (NASDAQ: LAES) increased its dedicated Quantum Investment Fund from $35 million to over $100 million, aiming to accelerate Europe’s quantum-safe digital infrastructure and sovereign capabilities.
Field Notes
I keep running into this funny problem consulting on the quantum transition.
Everyone agrees cryptography is muy importante (very important). Very few people can tell you where theirs actually is.
And I don’t mean that in a “wow, security is broken” way. I mean in a very normal, very human way. Crypto was designed to be invisible. It did its job quietly. Nobody ever had to point at it and say, “this one, right here.”
So now when you ask, the answers get real vague, real fast.
I’ve been helping an aerospace company build a cryptographic inventory, and what surprised me is that the hard part isn’t super technical. Instead what’s difficult is the moment you realize you have to translate extremely ~nerdy~ parameters into something operational people can understand in about 10 minutes, preferably without their eyes glazing over.
Tech teams don’t always have this written down cleanly themselves. Operational folks don’t care about algorithms or key sizes anyway. They want to know what depends on what, what breaks if it fails, and who gets yelled at when it does. (anddddd, more importantly, whether they’ll be awarded better contracts in the future)
Then you realize you can’t even reuse the same explanation twice.
Healthcare lingo's different from energy. Energy speaks differently than aerospace. Finance has its own anxieties and language. Tech has its own brand of chaos. You keep asking the same questions, but you keep having to ask them in a slightly different way.
I've been learning Spanish the past few years and it's a surprisingly similar process.
Oddly enough, this is the part I like.
My ex-military background helps because the task feels familiar. You strip things down. You decide what matters now. You explain it plainly. You move forward without perfect information.
Most people don’t understand cryptography, and honestly, that was fine for a long time. The quantum transition is forcing it out into the open. Whether this goes smoothly or turns into a mess depends almost entirely on how good we get at explaining the invisible stuff.
Tangent
Fun Fact for 2026:
Quantum computers in 2026 still need to be colder than outer space, isolated from vibrations, and carefully babysat just to stay coherent for a few seconds.
Meanwhile, we’re already planning how to secure the global internet from them.
It’s funny because we’re redesigning cryptography to defend against a machine that currently can’t survive someone closing a door too hard.
The irony isn’t lost on me…
Hope you've all had an amazing holiday season!
⚛ Addie LaMarr
P.S. what quantum concept do you want broken down next??? I read every reply!
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