China "Succeeds in Developing Quantum Computer 10 Billion Times Faster than Google"...Published in Science Journal

[Image source=Chinese Academy of Sciences]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Chinese scientists have developed a quantum computer capable of performing calculations 10 billion times faster than Google's supercomputer, according to a report published in the American journal Science. The field of quantum computing holds great potential for applications in large-scale system simulations, physics, chemistry, and various other research areas, suggesting that technological competition between the United States and China will intensify in the future.

According to Xinhua News Agency and Bloomberg News on the 4th, Chinese researchers recently announced in a paper published in the American journal Science that they created a quantum computer prototype named "Jiuzhang," which can detect up to 76 photons using the standard simulation algorithm called Gaussian boson sampling. According to the Chinese research team, this quantum computer is claimed to perform calculations 10 billion times faster than Google's supercomputer and 100 trillion times faster than conventional general-purpose supercomputers.

Previously, Google announced last year that it had developed a quantum computer capable of performing calculations that would take a supercomputer 10,000 years in just 200 seconds. Although the development of quantum computers is still in its infancy worldwide, including in the United States, the technology is regarded as a future core technology that can dramatically improve computer processing speed and performance, enabling large-scale system simulations and making significant contributions to various research fields such as physics and chemistry.

Bloomberg News reported that quantum computing has become another front in the technological competition between the U.S. and China, involving companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft (MS). The Chinese government is constructing a National Quantum Information Science Research Institute with a budget of 10 billion dollars to develop quantum computers. The United States reportedly allocated 1 billion dollars earlier this year under the Donald Trump administration to support research in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information.