The Chinese Ministry of Science publicly announced, on January 30, that the first direct sale of a quantum-type computer system to a client took place in its territory at the beginning of 2022. Although the identity of the user or the purpose for which it will be used, if it is known that it is the 24-qubit Wuyan system based on superconducting technology.
This quantum computer model has been built by the company Origin Quantum computing technology, led by quantum physicists Guo Guoping and Guo Guangcan. Despite being the first in the Asian country, it is the third sale of these characteristics that is undertaken worldwideafter those carried out in Canada and the United States.
It didn’t take long for expert voices to jump out, such as weifeng zhona researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax (Virginia), who claimed that it was unfeasible for the Chinese government to expose this news in such a transparent way given the importance of quantum technology in national security. Although perhaps this slowdown in the announcement of the news is due to the fact that it has been previously purchased, which is not a problem and that, otherwise, this innovation can be used as a step forward for the country in favor of its economic opening to the world.
hodan omaara senior AI policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, sees this announcement as an important step forward for China to overcome the technical challenges presented by large-scale quantum computers. So, just as classical computers have depended on bits and superconducting chips to evolve, now the country will need to increase qubits for its national quantum systems and improve its competitiveness in the sector.
Despite being functional, the Wuyan system presents errors such as its low qubit count, large amounts of noise, and other factors that make it difficult for a quantum computer to process data and generate reliable applications.
A step forward for China opposed to the market
The sale of a 24-qubit quantum computer to a user shows that the Asian giant advances at a very different pace, compared to other countries, and that it does not take into account that most of this type of computer system is accessible to today through the cloud. The Wuyan has many technical improvements, but in the end it is part of a local sales process, which will result in post-hoc issues such as maintenance, spare parts and calibration.
As advanced and groundbreaking as the 24-qubit Wuyan may be, quantum technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, in such a way that becomes obsolete in less than two years. That is why quantum users prefer to access this type of services through the cloud.
The skeleton of the Wuyan 24 qubits
The Wuyan is built with superconducting chip technology, being one of the first technologies for quantum computers, which has prevailed over others such as photonics, trapped ions and neutral atoms. However, a possible merger of technologies is not ruled out, since superconducting requires a refrigeration around zero degrees Kelvin.
The particularity of quantum computers is that the electrons that make them up are difficult to handle due to their short coherence times, which is why they need to be cooled down to a very low temperature. In this way, the goal is to reach 1,000 qubits with error correctionalthough it is difficult to detect which technology is the best to apply to quantum computers when solving problems.
In this sense, Omaar assured that superconducting chips present greater advantages as they are solid electrical circuits that are easier to manipulate when working with microwaves and applicable to quantum computing. In addition, the development of high-quality devices can take advantage of advanced chip manufacturing technologies and favor scalability.
The forecast of the future
Many scientists share the idea that quantum computers will be able to solve complex problems beyond the reach of classical computing technology, even though they need many years to achieve such goals. And it is that at least they would be needed a million qubits to solve these problemsgoing hand in hand with scalability and stabilization of the qubits.
IT-Harvest founder and chief research analyst Richard Stiennon says quantum computing is still in its early days and is still needed improve the precision in the length of the routes and in the resistance of the forces. A large economic and time investment will go hand in hand with clear quantum progress.
