This paper explores the practical challenges and potential of achieving exascale quantum computing. It examines the hybrid nature of early quantum computers, the need for new software tools and training, and the difficulties in exploiting parallelism and error correction. The paper delves into Shor's algorithm for factoring large numbers, comparing its quantum and classical approaches and highlighting the resource requirements. It also discusses a pragmatic approach using Grover's algorithm for factoring, and analyzes the software, energy, maintenance, and infrastructural needs for large-scale quantum computing.

James H Davenport, Jessica R Jones, Matthew Thomason