China unveils new quantum computing cloud platform

BEIJING - China released a new generation of a quantum computing cloud platform, which enables researchers to perform complex computational tasks in the cloud and the public to experience quantum computing at the speed of microseconds.

The platform, jointly developed by the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS), Institute of Physics (IOP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tsinghua University, was released at the ongoing 2023 Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing.

It can pool the quantum computing power of three superconducting quantum chips featuring 136, 18, and 10 qubits, respectively, at a physical space distance of 50 km.

The platform, which was open for testing since last November, has attracted more than 2,000 domestic and foreign users to run quantum computing tasks more than 500,000 times, during which its performance has been stable and efficient, according to the BAQIS.

It is compatible with open quantum assembly language and also provides a graphic interface for convenient programming.

Some research teams have been using the platform to remotely employ quantum chips to serve their own scientific research and build application software, and the ecological construction of quantum computing is unfolding.

"The ecology of quantum computing needs to be built on the cloud platform, so we should develop the cloud platform as soon as possible," said Fan Heng, a researcher with the IOP.