Quantum Technology, Big Tech, and Shifting Structural Power in the International System

This thesis examines how quantum computing technology serves as a catalyst for fundamental shifts in structural power within the international system, particularly through the divergent innovation strategies of the United States and China. As quantum technologies advance toward breaking current encryption methods and enabling revolutionary capabilities in sensing and communications, the question of who controls these innovations becomes critical to understanding future power dynamics. The analysis reveals two contrasting approaches to quantum technology development. China has adopted a centralized, state-driven model, forcing its Big Tech firms to relinquish quantum research control and consolidating efforts through institutions like the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center. This approach has enabled China to lead in quantum communications, establishing a 12,000-kilometer quantum network and launching quantum key distribution satellites. Conversely, the United States has delegated quantum innovation to private corporations, with firms like IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet emerging as primary developers. This market-based approach has produced advantages in quantum computing research but has simultaneously transferred unprecedented power to these corporations. Drawing on theories of technoscience rent, digital sovereignty, and structural power, this thesis argues that the U.S. delegation strategy has allowed Big Tech firms to accumulate power across all four dimensions of Susan Strange's structural power framework: security, finance, production, and knowledge. Through their control of technological infrastructure, data sovereignty, and platform power exercised via algorithmic governance, these firms now function as quasi-sovereign entities capable of constraining state foreign policy decisions. The advent of quantum computing threatens to cement this power consolidation, as firms control both the technologies necessary to break current encryption and the quantum-resistant solutions required for future security. The theoretical framework integrates concepts from quantum mechanics—particularly entanglement, uncertainty, and superposition—to reconceptualize power relationships in the international system. This quantum approach reveals how Big Tech's control over critical infrastructure creates dependencies that transcend traditional territorial sovereignty, establishing what can be termed "digital sovereignty" that operates independently of geographic boundaries. The implications are profound: states that have delegated innovation to firms face growing vulnerabilities as these corporations gain leverage over national security, economic infrastructure, and global communications. China's preemptive measures to prevent Big Tech dominance in quantum technology suggest recognition of these risks. This research contributes to international relations theory by demonstrating how technological infrastructure control by non-state actors fundamentally challenges state-centric paradigms and necessitates new frameworks for understanding power, sovereignty, and security in the quantum era.