Abstract
Quantum computing is an emerging technology. The clock frequency of current computer processor systems may reach about 40 GHz within the next 10 years. By then, one atom may represent one bit. Electrons under such conditions are no longer described by classical physics and a new model of the computer may be necessary by then. The quantum computer is one proposal that may have merit in dealing with the problems associated with the fact that certain important computationally intense problems present that current
(classical) computers cannot solve because they require too much processing time. For example, Shor's algorithm performs factoring a large integer in polynomial time while classical factoring algorithms can do it in exponential time. In this paper we briefly survey the current status of quantum computers, quantum computer systems, and quantum simulators. Keywords Classical computers, quantum computers, quantum computer systems, quantum simulators, Shor's algorithm.