China Unveils the World’s First Optical Quantum Computer That Surpasses Classical Machines

On May 3, the tech world received exciting news: the world’s first optical quantum computer that surpasses early classic computers was born in China, marking China’s quantum‑computing research entering a world‑class level. The machine was jointly developed by the University of Science and Technology of China, the Alibaba‑CAS Quantum Computing Laboratory, Zhejiang University, and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Quantum computers use quantum superposition and entanglement, theoretically offering ultra‑fast parallel computation and simulation. If a traditional computer is likened to a bicycle, a quantum computer is comparable to an airplane; a problem that would take a supercomputer 100 years could be solved in 0.01 seconds by a trillion‑operation quantum computer.

Optical quantum computer circuit diagram developed by CAS

According to CAS academician Pan Jianwei, after achieving ten‑photon entanglement manipulation in 2016, the team built an optical quantum prototype whose boson‑sampling speed is 24,000 times faster than the industry standard. Compared with classic algorithms, this prototype runs 10–100 times faster than the first electronic‑tube computer (ENIAC) and the first transistor computer (TRADIC). The team expects to manipulate about 20 optical qubits by the end of 2017.

Superconducting quantum computer roadmap

In the superconducting platform, the team broke the U.S. record of nine‑qubit manipulation by creating a 10‑qubit superconducting circuit, achieving the world’s largest multi‑body pure entanglement of superconducting qubits and fully characterizing the 10‑qubit state via tomography.

CAS‑Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory illustration

Two years ago, Alibaba and the Chinese Academy of Sciences established Asia’s first quantum‑computing laboratory, conducting forward‑looking research in quantum information science and moving quantum computing from academia to real‑world applications. At the Shenzhen Cloud Conference in March, Alibaba Cloud announced the world’s first cloud‑based quantum‑encrypted communication case, providing unconditional secure data transmission.

At a recent technology conference, Jack Ma announced Alibaba’s “NASA program,” stating that quantum computing is the secret weapon to solve computing‑resource scarcity in the next 10‑20 years.

It is projected that by 2025 quantum computers will reach the performance of today’s fastest supercomputers and will be applied to major scientific problems that are currently unsolvable.

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