China’s new quantum computer is 10 million Times Faster Than Google’s Sycamore

Physicists in China say they have built two quantum computers with performance speeds which top their Western competitors – a superconducting machine and an even faster type which uses light photons to achieve never-before seen results.

According to the research team, the light-based Jiuzhang 2 can calculate in one millisecond a task that would take the world’s fastest conventional computer 30 trillion years.

News of the breakthroughs was given in an interview with the research team on state broadcaster CCTV which aired on Tuesday. The team’s findings are detailed in two papers published in the peer-reviewed academic journals Physical Review Letters and Science Bulletin.

Lead researcher Pan Jianwei said the Zuchongzhi 2 – a 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computer named after a 5th century mathematician – is 10 million times faster than the world’s fastest supercomputer and much more powerful than Google’s 55-qubit Sycamore, launched two years ago.

The Zuchongzhi 2 was upgraded from an earlier machine released three months ago and can run a calculation task one million times more complex than Sycamore, he said.

Pan’s team also announced the Jiuzhang 2, another quantum computer based on light. It has a narrower field of applications but can reach a speed 100 sextillion (one followed by 23 zeroes) times faster than the largest conventional computers.

Despite their speed, these machines will not replace common computers any time soon. At this stage, they work only in a protected environment for short periods on highly specific tasks, and they make a lot of mistakes.