A “real” quantum computer before 2030

Spinq is one of the main manufacturers of Quantum computers from China. We discovered this company in early 2023 because it placed in the market An amazing quantum team Very compact that looked much more like a PC than one of the huge and exotic quantum computers of IBM, Google or Honeywell. However, Spinq machine technology It was very different to which the equipment with Superconductor cubits or ion traps.

And it is that their cubits were implemented taking advantage of the possibility of measuring spin states of certain atoms of a molecule using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques (NMR). A brief note: the spin is an intrinsic property of elementary particles, as well as the electric charge, derived from its time of angular rotation. This strategy has allowed this Chinese company to point out some reasonably simple cubits, which can also operate in relatively little demanding environmental conditions.

Spinq has ties with the Chinese government

The computer we can see in the cover image of this article is the machine with spinq NMR cubits. This is a mature technology that has been known for more than two decades. In fact, the quantum computer that executed for the first time the quantum algorithm of Shor numbers factoring it. This happened in 2001. However, these cubits are very sensitive to noise, so this technique is not appropriate to put quantum processors with many cubits.

Another advantage of NMR cubits is that they are much simpler than superconductor cubits or those of trapped ions, so putting them ready is cheaper. Spinq says in Your website That their quantum computers Gemini Mini and Mini Pro, both of two cubits, and Triangulum II, of three cubits, They are low -cost quantum equipment. It makes sense that they are much cheaper than quantum computers with IBM or Google Superconductor cubits, and also that computers with Honeywell or Ionq ion traps. Even so, they are much more expensive than our PC. In fact, the first version of Triangulum, the most advanced of these compact quantum computers, cost approximately 56,000 euros in 2023.

In any case, Spinq does not manufacture quantum machines for educational projects and to address some simple scientific problems; It also designs and produces quantum computers with much more ambitious superconductor cubits. According to SCMPthis company plans to have a quantum machine of 100 cubits before it expires 2025. It does not seem a great achievement if we are in mind that IBM has since 2023 ‘Condor’a quantum processor of 1,121 cubits, but Spinq’s plans do not end here. And before this decade ends up having prepared a quantum computer “useful to solve real world problems”, According to Spinq itself.

To carry out this successful plan you will have to develop a machine with thousands of superconductor cubits, and, in addition, with the ability to amend your own mistakes. There is something that is worth not overlooked: this company has Very narrow ties with the Chinese government. In fact, has received a subsidy of the administration of Shenzhen and collaborates with the Harbin Institute of Technology and the Ministry of Education. There is no doubt about one thing: quantum technologies are a priority, and Spinq is one of its main assets. IBM also plans Having a quantum computer equipped with the ability to amend your errors before this decade ends, so for China it is essential to match this milestone.

Image | Spinq

More information | SCMP

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