China’s first photonic chip
Today, the world is experiencing unprecedented natural disasters: floods, droughts, hurricanes. At the same time, humanity is facing global challenges: disruptions in world trade, employment difficulties and an aging population. In its contribution to universal modern history, China relies on the continuous advancement of scientific and technological innovations to bring hope and direction for mankind’s continued survival and development. So, based on the scientific and technological breakthroughs made by China in 2021, we can get an idea of 10 possible contributions of the former Middle Kingdom to the world over the next decade.
China’s first photonic chip
Empowering ‘quantum computing superiority !
In 2019, photonic chips were used in China’s photonic quantum computer prototype “Jiuzhang.” Jiuzhang (with 76 detected photons) can process specific problems 100 trillion times faster than the world’s most powerful supercomputer. An updated version, Jiuzhang 2.0 (with 113 detected photons), which was unveiled in 2021, is 100 times faster than Jiuzhang, and is programmable.
In December 2021, China unveiled its second-generation photonic chip, which features ultra-low latency, high throughput and high energy efficiency.
Meanwhile, in October 2021, China successfully developed the 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computer prototype “Zuchongzhi 2.0,” which achieved two-dimensional programmable quantum walk (instead of random walk).
Over the next decade, photonic chips will be gradually applied in areas such as autonomous driving, AR glasses, quantitative trading, AI supercomputing data centers and robots.
Quantum computing technology is developing rapidly in areas like quantum communications, quantum satellites and big data processing, with various quantum industries under development.
While classical AI may seem a little confined in its skills of recognition and statistical combinations, AI coupled with the power of quantum supercomputers (exceeding the classical binary mode) will give future results that will exceed the imagination.
