Energy efficiency of quantum computers

@misc{carrascocodina2026energy,
  title = {{Energy efficiency of quantum computers}},
  author = {Miquel Carrasco-Codina and Pau Escofet and Paul Hilaire and Ariane Soret and Sam Nerenberg and Victor Champain and Gerard Milburn and Klara Theophilo and Sophie H. Li and Irais Bautista and Andrés Gómez and Jose Miralles and Sergi Abadal and Carmen G. Almudéver and Eduard Alarcón and Raja Yehia},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.15090},
  eprint = {2605.15090},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15090},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Energy efficiency of quantum computers
AU  - Miquel Carrasco-Codina
AU  - Pau Escofet
AU  - Paul Hilaire
AU  - Ariane Soret
AU  - Sam Nerenberg
AU  - Victor Champain
AU  - Gerard Milburn
AU  - Klara Theophilo
AU  - Sophie H. Li
AU  - Irais Bautista
AU  - Andrés Gómez
AU  - Jose Miralles
AU  - Sergi Abadal
AU  - Carmen G. Almudéver
AU  - Eduard Alarcón
AU  - Raja Yehia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/31
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.15090
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15090
AB  - How much energy does a quantum computer consume? Are they more efficient than their classical counterparts? In this work, we make a step towards answering these questions. We define the energy efficiency of a quantum computer as the ratio of the number of algorithms it can perform during a given time over the energy consumed by the hardware during this time. We analyze the most representative physical platforms currently envisioned to be used as building blocks of quantum computers: superconducting qubits, silicon spin qubits, trapped ions, neutral atoms and photonic qubits. Including insights from experts in all these technologies and taking into account algorithm compilation constraints, we discuss the advantages and inconveniences of each platform from an energy standpoint. Beyond providing concrete values of the energy consumption of current quantum computers, we lay the foundation of a framework to benchmark the energy efficiency of any future quantum computing architecture.
ER  -