Satellite 'Micius' to create $7.5b quantum communication market

China launches the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Northwest China's Gansu province, Aug 16, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua]

China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite "Micius", which is named after the ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert in the early hours of today.

Compared with traditional communication which faces bottlenecks or downside pressure, quantum communications is expected to be widely used in government, energy, finance, broadcasting and TV sectors and create a market worth over 50 billion yuan ($7.54 billion) in the next five years, the National Business Daily reports.

It marks a breakthrough in the development of quantum communications, communication expert Zhang Peng told the newspaper, adding that capital investment is now focusing more on satellite than internet. However, it will need more time to put the network into real use, Zhang said.

"If China is going to send more quantum communication satellites into orbit, we can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030," Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of satellite project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Xinhua News Agency.

Though it still on the start-up phase, several securities companies issued reports, saying quantum communications will enter the harvest time. "Based on the characters of confidentiality and security, in the future, it will be widely used in military, government and energy."

TF Securities said over the next three years equipment and devices of military market is expected to be valued at 30 billion yuan, plus the civilian market, the market value of energy, finance, broadcasting and TV sectors will exceed 50 billion yuan over the five years.

So far more than 10 listed companies are involved in quantum communications, such as Kehua Tech, Sanlux Co Ltd, Zhejiang Orient Holdings Co Ltd, Kaile Science and Technology Co Ltd and Digital China Information Service Company Ltd.

Zhejiang Orient has closed higher for three consecutive trading days as its shareholding company invested in quantum communication enterprises, Zhejiang Shenzhen Quantum Technology Co Ltd and QuantumCTek Co Ltd.