A 176-qubit quantum computing platform called Zuchongzhi was launched for global users on Wednesday night. The platform is expected to accelerate the advancement of quantum computing hardware and its ecosystem, as stated by the Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zhu Xiaobo, the project’s chief engineer and a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, explained that the research team enhanced the Zuchongzhi-2 66-qubit chip by incorporating control interfaces for an additional 110 coupled qubits, enabling users to manipulate 176 quantum bits.
Introduced in 2021, Zuchongzhi-2 is a programmable quantum computing system with 66 qubits. It is capable of performing large-scale random quantum circuits sampling approximately 10 million times faster than the fastest supercomputer available at that time.
Furthermore, Zhu mentioned that the platform aims to achieve top-level global standards in crucial design indicators such as connectivity, fidelity, and interference time.
Peng Chengzhi, the project’s executive vice-director and chairman of QuantumCTek Co., Ltd., informed reporters that the platform is open to users worldwide. The public can experience basic quantum computing programming and image experiments, while industry users can explore new applications through remote access to quantum computers.
Peng expressed the platform’s eagerness to welcome an increasing number of users, emphasizing that their participation and experience in quantum computing can drive progress in the entire field.
He also revealed the project’s plan to connect several high-performance quantum computers to the platform in the future to ensure its backup and keep it updated at a world-class level.
