“Super fusion is the mainstream form for quantum computing to become practical in the future,” Wang Zhen, Deputy General Manager of China Telecom Quantum Group, told First Financial in a recent research and exchange event.
Superfusion refers to the fusion of supercomputing and quantum computing. As the main force of China Telecom (601728. SH) in the quantum technology sector, China Telecom Quantum Group is currently actively promoting the industrialization of quantum communication and the practicality of quantum computing, and plans to invest 1.9 billion yuan to acquire 23.08% equity of Guodun Quantum (688027. SH).
Tianfeng Securities believes that considering the construction of quantum communication commercial and computing power centers, China is expected to be led by central state-owned enterprises in the future, through professional integration and forward-looking layout, to create a leading enterprise in quantum information.
Starting from the practice of excessive integration
At present, China has made many explorations in “super fusion”, and the “Tianyan” quantum computing cloud platform of China Telecom Quantum Group is a preliminary practice of super fusion.
It is reported that the “Tianyan” quantum computing cloud platform has achieved the fusion of “Tianyi Cloud” supercomputing capability and 176 qubit superconducting quantum computing capability, making it a super fusion cloud platform with “quantum superiority” capability.
By accessing quantum computing resources through cloud platforms, it is possible to achieve practical application in key scenarios, greatly reducing the threshold for quantum computer usage, accelerating the integration of quantum computing into quantum chemistry research, new drug and material development, energy and meteorological simulation, and other scenarios. It is reported that Guodun Quantum has assisted in the integration of the “Tianyan” quantum computing cloud platform and China Telecom’s “Tianyi Cloud” supercomputing platform.
“In terms of excessive integration, we first focus on capacity building, and secondly, we should conduct research and exploration for industry applications.” Sun Hantao, a quantum computing researcher at China Telecom Quantum Group, told First Financial. “In terms of capacity building, we have formed a joint research and development team with Tianyi Cloud, and have research layouts and corresponding application function development in areas such as excessive and scheduling, and excessive integration strategy centers. In terms of computing power center construction, we have also provided sufficient support for the ‘Tianyan’ quantum computing cloud platform, including the construction of integrated quantum computers and Tianyi Cloud computing power strategy centers. In terms of application, based on our construction capabilities, we have already developed corresponding applications in chemical molecule simulation, meteorological prediction, machine learning, and other areas.” Collaborate with the industry. At present, we can only say that we are in the layout and hope to release significant results by the end of the year
In addition, the Super Fusion Computing Center project in Hefei, known as the “Quantum Capital,” has recently been officially launched. According to the website of Hefei Public Resource Trading Center, Hefei Big Data Asset Operation Co., Ltd. will deploy two superconducting quantum computers and one ion trap quantum computer based on the “Chaohu Mingyue” supercomputer of Hefei Advanced Computing Center. The project is divided into three sections, with the winning bidder being companies such as Guodun Quantum and Guoyi Quantum Technology Co., Ltd.
“After the completion of the project, it will focus on ‘excess fusion computing’ as the core, accelerate the development of downstream ‘excess fusion computing’ application industry, and promote the continuous upgrading of upstream domestic quantum computing supply chain industry.” The relevant person in charge of Hefei Big Data Asset Operation Co., Ltd. introduced that it will explore the application of excess fusion computing in meteorological prediction, biomedicine, materials science, intelligent vehicles, high-end scientific research and other fields, and promote technological breakthroughs and industrial development in related industries. As the “strongest brain” of Hefei, Chaohu Mingyue will also become a heterogeneous computing power unified service platform that integrates supercomputing, artificial intelligence computing, and quantum computing, laying a solid foundation for the development of China’s digital economy.
“Xiaohong” breaks the record for the number of bits in China’s superconducting quantum chips
In recent years, China’s innovation capability in the field of supercomputing has received much attention, and it is also in the world’s top tier in quantum computing hardware level, producing leading achievements such as the “Nine Chapters” and “Zuchongzhi” quantum computers.
Recently, the Institute of Quantum Information and Quantum Technology Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the “Quantum Innovation Institute”) delivered a 504 bit superconducting quantum computing chip “Xiaohong” to Guodun Quantum to verify its self-developed kilobit measurement and control system. This chip has broken the record for the number of superconducting quantum bits in China, and plans to open it to the world through the “Tianyan” quantum computing cloud platform of China Telecom Quantum Group in the future.
Measurement and control systems and quantum computing chips are the core hardware of quantum computers. Among them, the measurement and control system needs to interact with quantum computing chips to achieve precise signal generation, transmission, and processing, which will greatly affect the overall performance of quantum computers. The most direct way to verify the overall performance and various indicators of large-scale measurement and control systems is to customize dedicated chips for comprehensive and systematic testing. To this end, the Quantum Innovation Institute has customized and developed the 504 bit quantum computing chip “Xiaohong”.
Thanks to the excellent R&D and processing capabilities of the Quantum Innovation Institute in superconducting quantum computing chips, this customized chip integrates over 500 bits while meeting key indicators such as quantum bit lifespan, gate fidelity, gate depth, and read fidelity. It is expected to meet the chip performance of international mainstream quantum computing cloud platforms such as IBM, and can fully meet the verification needs of kilobit measurement and control systems.
However, Gong Ming, a researcher at the Quantum Innovation Institute, emphasized that the main purpose of the “Xiaohong” chip is to promote the development of large-scale quantum computing measurement and control systems, and more attention is paid to integrating more bit numbers and achieving various individual indicators to meet the needs of measurement and control system verification. However, the comprehensive performance of the “Xiaohong” chip still lags behind the “Zuchong-2” chip, which has previously set a world record for quantum entanglement numbers, and does not have the ability to achieve “quantum computing superiority”.
Wang Zhehui, the person in charge of Guodun Quantum Computing, introduced that the “Xiaohong” chip will undergo single bit gate, double bit gate, read operation, and measurement and control system performance testing on the Guodun Quantum Thousand Bit Measurement and Control System. The testing work is expected to be completed before August this year. The integration level of the new measurement and control system has increased by more than 10 times compared to the previous generation of products. The core components are designed domestically, which significantly reduces costs while improving control accuracy. In the future, Guodun Quantum will further develop new measurement and control systems suitable for error correcting quantum computers on a scale of tens of thousands of bits.
“Developing this chip is not difficult,” said Peng Chengzhi, a professor at the Quantum Innovation Institute, the chief scientist of China Telecom Quantum Group, and Guodun Quantum. Superconducting quantum computing chips can reuse more mature semiconductor chip processing technology and have special advantages in expanding the number of bits. “The most difficult thing is how to synchronize the quality and quantity of quantum bits, thereby truly improving the performance of chips and regulating large-scale quantum bits more precisely. This is something that mainstream international scientific research teams are working on.” He said that the superconducting quantum computing team of the Quantum Innovation Institute is currently developing 1000+bits, high-quality superconducting quantum computing chips, and striving to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing. “Quantum computing is a long journey, and we need to overcome many peaks to truly move towards practicality. What we need to take next is the more crucial step.”.