As Washington tightens its restrictions on chip exports to China, a local startup called Origin Quantum is racing to perfect its technology in quantum computing chips – the next strategic frontier where major economies are vying to establish dominance.
At China’s first quantum chip trial production line in Hefei, Anhui province, Origin Quantum’s engineers are testing products. Quantum chips serve as the processor for quantum computers, and are far more powerful than their classical computing counterparts due to their ability to use quantum bits, or “qubits”.
According to Jia Zhilong, Origin Quantum’s vice-president, the startup has put a superconductor chip production line into operation, and has so far produced 1,500 batches of chip products. The company has also developed cutting-edge tools to measure qubits resistance with minimal damage, improving development efficiency.
Origin Quantum plans to release its latest quantum computer, called Wukong, within half a year, featuring a chip with over 64 qubits, said Jia.
Quantum computers are expected to solve problems in areas such as artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, and finance that are difficult for classical computers to solve. Last year, Origin Quantum inked a deal with China Mobile to explore ways to leverage quantum computing to overcome computational bottlenecks facing 5G and 6G technologies.
Despite quantum computing technology still existing on a small scale, companies such as Google, IBM and Origin Quantum are eyeing commercialization of quantum computers by 2030. Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co estimates that quantum computing will have a conservative value of up to $700 billion by 2035 for industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, autos, and finance.
China has stated that it will prioritize frontier science and technological blueprints such as quantum computing and quantum communication in its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25). Origin Quantum is ranked first in China and sixth in the world by the number of invention patents it has applied for in quantum computing, according to the latest Global Quantum Computing Technology Patent Filings Ranking List released by innovation index researcher incoPat and intellectual property media IPR Daily in October.
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