China's quantum computer is 180 million times faster than the world's most powerful supercomputer

The device could be applied to data mining, bioinformatics, network analysis and chemical modeling, the team said.

A team of Chinese scientists say they have achieved another milestone in quantum computing, claiming their Jiuzhang device can process artificial intelligence (AI)-related tasks 180 million times faster than the world's most powerful supercomputer, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Problems solved by China's quantum computer could be applied to data mining, bioinformatics, network analysis and chemical modeling research.

In the study using quantum computers, scientists implemented and accelerated two algorithms – random search and simulated annealing – used in the field of AI. Photo: University of Science and Technology of China

Specifically, in the journal Physical Review Letters published in May, the research team led by Pan Jianwei, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China, who is known as the "father of science and technology" in China, wrote: "Our work aims to test and solve outstanding problems in the real world that traditional supercomputers have difficulty handling."

In the tests, the team used the Jiuzhang device to solve a problem that is difficult for traditional computers. Jiuzhang used more than 200,000 samples to solve the problem. Normally, the world's fastest traditional supercomputer would take 700 seconds to generate each sample, meaning it would take nearly five years to process more than 200,000 samples. However, for Jiuzhang, the processing speed was less than 1 second.

Since the basic information of quantum computers can represent all possibilities at the same time, they are theoretically much faster and more powerful than the conventional computers used in everyday life.

However, the downside of quantum computing technology is that the subatomic particles at the core are fragile, short-lived, and prone to errors if affected by even a small disturbance in the surrounding environment. Most quantum computers operate in extremely cold and isolated environments to avoid disruption.

Jiuzhang, named after a 2,000-year-old Chinese mathematical text, uses light as the physical medium for calculations. Unlike other quantum computers, Jiuzhang does not need to operate in isolation at extremely low temperatures and can operate stably for longer periods of time.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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