Upcoming SAS products will equip your organization with quantum AI for real ROI
dallas, April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SAS INNOVATE — As the supply chain supporting quantum hardware stabilizes, many experts expect this emerging technology to be widespread and ready for mass production by the early 2030s. Some think this means that reaping quantum benefits is no longer a problem.
SAS research reveals leaders are ready to use quantum AI.
SAS research reveals leaders are ready to use quantum AI.
Quantum AI is a powerful approach to running machine learning algorithms on existing quantum hardware. In reality, quantum AI can be applied to organizations to accomplish tasks that would take hours in minutes, or to solve problems that were previously thought infeasible with existing hardware. You might also want to tune your model to train more efficiently with less data and improve stability over time.
So, with all the potential benefits, what is stopping organizations from investing further?
SAS, a leader in data and AI, conducted a survey of more than 500 global leaders across industries on quantum AI. In the first study in 2025, high implementation costs were ranked as the top barrier to adoption, followed by lack of understanding or knowledge. That will change in 2026.
What will be the biggest barrier to quantum AI adoption in 2026?
Among survey respondents, the biggest barriers to quantum AI adoption in 2026 were ranked as follows:
- Uncertainty regarding actual real-world use.
- Installation cost is high.
- There is a shortage of trained personnel.
- Lack of knowledge and understanding.
- The availability of quantum AI solutions is limited.
- Lack of clear regulatory guidelines.
What is quantum AI? Why would organizations want to use it?
SAS views classical and quantum computing as a spectrum. At one end you have proven classical computing, and at the other end you have experimental and exponentially powerful quantum computing. Many industry and business problems fall somewhere in between, with hybrid approaches dividing the workload and allowing quantum and classical processing to do what they do best.
“Organizations of all sizes are working hard to develop their intellectual property, their own patented approaches to quantum AI, so they will be ready as the technology matures,” said Bill Wysotsky, Principal Quantum Architect at SAS. “Despite continued strong interest, leaders are understandably proceeding with caution, unwilling to commit to expensive quantum investments for fear they may not lead to valuable use cases or problem solving.
“SAS is working to level the playing field, establishing real-world use cases today and ensuring our customers get a piece of the quantum pie tomorrow.”
How can customers prepare for the quantum economy?
“This research reveals what SAS experts have already seen in the market: Leaders are excited about using quantum, but the barriers to entry are too high and solutions are needed,” said Amy Stout, director of quantum product strategy at SAS. “SAS is excited to give you a sneak peek of SAS Quantum Lab, a hands-on playground for learning and innovating for real-world ROI.”
What is SAS Quantum Lab?
Available to SAS Viya customers in the fourth quarter. SAS Quantum Lab is the starting point for your quantum AI journey. It is designed to complement the existing work of quantum experts and assist users who are not quantum physicists but are ready to explore, test, and validate their ideas. This will significantly reduce the cost of quantum AI exploration, helping customers avoid false signals, and at the same time allowing them to explore this powerful technology in an efficient and reliable manner.
SAS Quantum Lab is currently designed to include:
- The ability to compare classical, quantum, and hybrid results side-by-side for industry use cases allows users to find the best solution to their business problems.
- Performance-enhancing features. Current testing shows over 100x speedup and 99% cost reduction.
- A virtual quantum AI tutor that accelerates your learning by answering questions, providing sample code, and suggesting next steps.
What will be possible with quantum AI?
At the end of the survey, respondents were able to answer write-in questions. If you’re currently working on quantum, what use cases are you looking to accomplish or what business problems are you looking to solve? Answers included:
- to increase accuracy scam Detection systems in financial services allow complex trading patterns to be identified more efficiently.
- Optimize 5G network path traffic in real-time.
- Accelerate the molecular simulation and drug discovery process for new therapeutic candidates.
- For optimizing supply chain logistics and logistics problems.
- Improve machine learning workflows with a focus on predictive modeling of customer behavior.
- Train language models at scale for natural language processing tasks and reduce the time and resources spent optimizing models.
“If you are ready to explore quantum AI, we are ready to work with you,” Wisotsky added. “Bring your ideas and our experts will help you determine if and how quantum AI can be incorporated in a way that is valuable, safe, and sensible.”
Connect with quantum AI with SAS Innovate
Today’s announcement was made at the following locations: SAS Innovateis SAS’ global data and AI conference celebrating 50 years of innovation. This year’s event is proudly supported by partner sponsors including Microsoft, Intel, and AWS.
About SAS
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