China’s Baidu unveiled its first ever quantum computer on Thursday and announced it is planing to make it available to external users.
The tech firm, which operates China’s main internet search engine, named its new creation the “Qianshi”, which will be powered by a 10-quantum-bit processor.
The new computer will be equipped to solve data and problems that existing computers cannot, Interesting Engineering reported, representing technological strides in AI, material simulation, and finance.
The Quantum Race
Governments and companies around the world for years have touted the potential of quantum computing, a form of high-speed calculation at extraordinarily cold temperatures that will bring computers to unprecedented processing speeds.
However, current real-world applications in the field are still very basic and limited to a small group of early clients.
The United States, China and the European Union have initiated massively funded projects in quantum computing, hoping to pull ahead in the field, which is often considered as one of the cornerstones on which the new global supremacy will be determined.
Global governments and companies will invest around $16.4 billion in quantum development by the end of 2027, according to market researcher IDC.
US tech giant IBM has said that it plans to make a quantum computer ready for commercial use in 2025 with a more-than-4,000 qubit processor.
Alphabet Inc’s Google is also aiming to develop a computer with 1 million qubits by the end of this decade.
- Reuters, with additional editing from Alfie Habershon
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Tokyo Sets Quantum Computing Deadline – Japan Times
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China Forges Ahead of US in Supercomputer Race – FT
