The 2024 Quantum Technology and Industry Conference recently opened in Hefei, Anhui Province. At the opening ceremony, Academician Xue Qikun, a recipient of the National Supreme Science and Technology Award, delivered a speech highlighting that the development of solid-state quantum theory led to the conception of semiconductors. By using methods such as electric fields to control the conductivity of semiconductors, representing "1" and "0", the foundation of all digital technology is established.
Since 1947, traditional computers have evolved over more than 70 years, with supercomputers now capable of performing 1.1 exaflops (10^18 floating-point operations per second) and containing 60 trillion transistors with an energy consumption of 500,000 kWh per day. In terms of chips, an NVIDIA H100 chip has 80 billion transistors, while a Cerebras Systems AI chip has up to 4 trillion transistors.
Traditional chips operate at room temperature, whereas superconducting quantum chips function at temperatures close to absolute zero, or -273 degrees Celsius. So, what will future universal superconducting quantum computers look like? According to Xue, they will require large cooling systems, occupying a quarter of a football field and cannot be miniaturized.
This implies that even when the era of universal superconducting quantum computers arrives, laptops and personal computers will not be replaced by quantum computers.
Xue emphasized that achieving a universal superconducting quantum computer is a long journey, requiring overcoming challenges like error rates, coherence time, fidelity, and uncertainties in hardware solutions, which may take 10 to 20 years.
"Developing a universal quantum computer tests the highest human intelligence and is more challenging than the first moon landing. It is a symbol of a nation's strongest technological capability," Xue stated. He also mentioned that quantum information technology is a strategically important field that relates to a country's core competitiveness and requires significant and sustained attention.