China launches 504-qubit quantum chip, open to global users

HEFEI -- The Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has delivered a 504-qubit superconducting quantum computing chip to QuantumCTek Co., Ltd., a leading quantum company based in east China's Anhui Province, setting a record for the number of qubits in a superconducting quantum chip in China, QuantumCTek said on Thursday.

The chip, "Xiaohong," is used to verify the kilo-qubit measurement and control system independently developed by the company, according to QuantumCTek.

The measurement and control system and the quantum computing chip are the core hardware of quantum computers, and the measurement and control system will greatly influence the overall performance of quantum computers, said Liang Futian, an associate professor at the center.

Liang said that the chip's key indicators, including the lifetime of its qubits, its gate fidelity and the depth of its quantum circuit, are expected to reach the chip performance levels of main international cloud-enabled quantum computing platforms such as IBM.

Gong Ming, a researcher at the center, said that the main purpose of the chip is to promote the development of large-scale quantum computing measurement and control systems, rather than to aim for higher computing power and quantum supremacy.

"Jiuzhang 2.0," which has 113 detected photons, and the "Zuchongzhi 2.1" 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computing systems developed by Chinese scientists in 2021, have made China the only country to achieve a quantum computational advantage through two mainstream technical routes: one via photonics quantum computing technology, and the other via superconducting quantum computing technology.

Wang Zhen, deputy general manager of China Telecom Quantum Group, a quantum computing company with investment from China Telecom, said that the company will cooperate with QuantumCTek to develop a quantum computer with the new "Xiaohong" chip, which global users will have access to through a quantum computing cloud platform developed by China Telecom Quantum Group.

"It will allow users in various fields to conduct research on problems and algorithms of practical value efficiently, and accelerate the application of quantum computing in actual scenarios," Wang said.