Researchers in China have demonstrated the most powerful quantum computer in the world, a 56-qubit machine that can perform operations orders of magni

China takes quantum supremacy lead

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2021-07-08 06:30:04

Researchers in China have demonstrated the most powerful quantum computer in the world, a 56-qubit machine that can perform operations orders of magnitude faster than Google’s quantum computer — its closest competitor. The Chinese quantum computer completed a complex calculation in a little over an hour, a task that would take a classical supercomputer eight years to perform.

The task performed by the new Zuchongzhi quantum computer is yet another demonstration of “quantum supremacy”.  The mythical-sounding term describes crossing the threshold where quantum computers can do things that conventional computers cannot in a reasonable timeframe.

Digital computers require data to be encoded into binary digits (bits), each of which is always in one of two definite states (0 or 1), whereas quantum computers use qubits, also known as quantum bits, that can exist in multiple states simultaneously.

In 2019, Google’s 54-qubit quantum processor, known as Sycamore, was the first in the world to achieve quantum supremacy. But its fame was soon overshadowed by Jiuzhang, an optical circuit 53-qubit quantum processor developed by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.

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