China launches 10 qubit quantum computer, plans 36 qubit version
Chinese cloud giant Baidu has launched its first industrial superconducting quantum computer that fully integrates hardware, software, and applications.
The 10 qubit system, called Qian Shi, was launched at Quantum Create 2022, a quantum developer conference held in Beijing.
China has been investing heavily in R&D for quantum computing but Baidu, a leading cloud services provider, points to a significant gap remains between quantum devices and services.
Qian Shi combines 10 qubit superconducting hardware with Baidu’s home-grown software stack. On top of this infrastructure are numerous practical quantum applications, such as quantum algorithms used to design new materials for novel lithium batteries or simulate protein folding.
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Baidu has also recently completed the design of a 36-qubit superconducting quantum chip with couplers, which demonstrates promising results in simulation.
To test out different quantum technologies, Baidu has developed a system called Liang Xi that can plug into Qian Shi and other third-party quantum computers, including a 10-qubit superconducting quantum device and a trapped ion quantum device developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Users can access these quantum computers via mobile app, PC, and cloud. THi sis an approach also being taken by the national quantum computing centre in Israel.
“With Qian Shi and Liang Xi, users can create quantum algorithms and use quantum computing power without developing their own quantum hardware, control systems, or programming languages,” said Dr. Runyao Duan, founder and director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at Baidu Research. “Baidu’s innovations make it possible to access quantum computing anytime and anywhere, even via smartphone. Baidu’s platform is also instantly compatible with a wide range of quantum chips, meaning ‘plug-and-play’ access is now a reality.”
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Baidu Research’s Institute for Quantum Computing covers quantum algorithms and applications, communications and networks, encryption and security, error correction, architecture, measurement and control, and chip design. Across more than four years of research and development, Baidu has submitted over 200 core technology patent applications.
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