Quantum computers have become a major thing today. But what makes a computer "quantum?" Here are 5 things to know about quantum computers.

1. While a classical computer encodes bits as either zero or one, a quantum computer uses qubits and can be zero, one, or a superposition of both. Quantum computing exploits the ability of photons to exist in multiple states at any time, allowing it to store more information than just zero or one.

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2. A quantum computer possesses inherent parallelism. While a classical computer could work one thing at a time, a quantum computer could process millions of data all at the same time. For example, IBM's cognitive computing platform called Watson could significantly reduce an hour of workload to less than a minute.

3. For factoring large numbers, a quantum computer is best to rely on as it could quickly break encryptions and search a large database. The world's first quantum computing machine from China boasts to be 10 to 100 times faster than the first electronic digital computer ENIAC when carrying out calculation tasks.

4. A quantum computer could read data even without looking at it. It entangles atoms, meaning one atom always reflects the state of another. It could also predict the complex movement and behavior of subatomic particles.

5. A quantum computer could play a powerful tool in the military. It could be applied to several military applications like engaging in the near-instantaneous hacking of encrypted military servers, controlling the enemy's national infrastructure systems, producing of new weapons and new materials, and developing of new war tactics, to name a few.

6. With its theoretical computation capabilities, a quantum computer could also help fight cybercrimes. IBM's Watson has been taught to read a huge number of security research, which are mostly in human-readable form and not machine data.

If quantum computers live to its promise, they could yield breakthroughs in different fields as well such as financial services, medicine, supply chain logistics, and artificial intelligence.