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“In the latest research, Prof Matthias Troyer of ETH Zurich and colleagues set random maths problems for a D-Wave machine owned by defence giant Lockheed Martin, pitting it against a desktop machine.”

Not sure what to make of this.

A quantum computer would be no better at multiplying two numbers than a classical computer. In fact, it may be SLOWER.

However, a quantum computer would be RADICALLY faster at factoring a large composite number (e.g., the product of two large prime numbers) than a classical computer. BTW, this particular math problem is the foundation of most public key cryptography, which in turn is the foundation of a TON of the security protocols on the Internet and in online bankng and commerce.

So, there are two possibilities here: (1) The people writing this study are ignorant of the classes of problems for which using qbits versus bits provides an advantage or (2) the D-Wave is a scam. My bet is (1).