Latest news with #Hefei-based
Borneo Post
5 days ago
- Science
- Borneo Post
China races to turn quantum computing into industrial solutions
Wang Jianwei (C), a professor at Peking University, tests an integrated photonic quantum chip with doctoral students Jia Xinyu (L) and Zhai Chonghao in a laboratory of Peking University in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 18, 2025. (Xinhua) HEFEI (June 25): In a significant stride toward practical quantum computing, a Chinese startup has successfully deployed its superconducting quantum processor to improve the accuracy of breast cancer screenings, showcasing the technology's potential to revolutionize medical diagnostics. The breakthrough came from Origin Quantum, a Hefei-based startup, which harnessed the parallel processing power of its 'Origin Wukong' quantum computer to analyze medical images with unprecedented speed. This pioneering work is indicative of China's growing capability in translating quantum computing advancement into practical solutions. In an ambitious drive, the nation seeks to foster an industrial ecosystem of the future amid the global quantum computing race. The Chinese government work report early this year called for the establishment of a growth mechanism for investment in future industries, including quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, embodied intelligence and 6G. The national policy guideline spurred a swift market response with entities transforming frontier, lab-based research into operational technologies with tangible impact. By tapping into the unique strengths of quantum technology, Origin Quantum's innovative approach in processing medical imaging data, developed in collaboration with Bengbu Medical University, resulted in a dramatic reduction of misdiagnosis and missed cases. 'The system enhances mammogram screening accuracy on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers, enabling high-precision and rapid classification of both healthy images and lesion malignancy,' said Xie Zongyu, a physician from the university's First Affiliated Hospital. 'Our ultimate goal is to establish a quantum intelligent diagnostic system,' Xie added. REAL-WORLD USES In March, a team of Chinese scientists unveiled Zuchongzhi 3.0, a 105-qubit superconducting quantum processor prototype with speed gains in the quadrillions over leading supercomputers for one specific task, showcasing capabilities that surpass those of classical supercomputers. However, lab advances like this remain niche demonstrations with minimal real-world impact. Over the coming five years, global quantum scientists are aiming to pinpoint a handful of practical quantum applications — like quantum chemistry and drug discovery, now largely bolstered by supercomputers and AI algorithms. A growing number of Chinese tech companies, including Origin Quantum, are gearing up to make their mark in this field. 'Computational chemistry can partly predict interactions between drug molecules and target proteins. But classical computers have difficulty in accurately predicting complex large molecules,' said Guo Guoping, chief scientist of Origin Quantum that launched the molecular docking software QDock. 'In theory, quantum computers can screen potential compounds and simulate complex reactions to break the computational bottleneck in drug discovery,' Guo added. AceMapAI, a Suzhou-based biotech company, is working with partners including Tencent Quantum Lab to explore the potential of quantum computing in drug molecular dynamics simulation, and drug screening and optimization. Zhao Xuejiao, deputy director of Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center, said that the complex computational problems in China's biopharmaceutical industry will provide a broad application scope for quantum computing. A Shanghai-based startup is also experimenting with applying quantum algorithms to the massive computations in smart cities. TuringQ introduced this month a quantum-inspired solution for Autonomous Valet Parking (AVP) that significantly reduces parking wait time and enhances efficiency. AVP is capable of autonomously navigating routes and parking accurately. The firm's solution has already been deployed in a large commercial parking lot. The algorithm cuts the average customer search time from 19.8 minutes under traditional manual scheduling to about 5.5 minutes when the parking space vacancy rate is only 5 percent. The application of quantum algorithms in the financial sector has become a significant area. Beijing Quantum firm QBoson, the Postal Savings Bank of China and China Mobile jointly designed a quantum algorithm-based bank teller scheduling solution. QBoson's quantum computer conducted a full search of the extremely large solution space and found the global optimum within milliseconds. 'Quantum computing companies design algorithms based on feedback from those with computational bottlenecks before testing them on quantum machines,' said Dou Mengan, vice president of Origin Quantum. 'This model creates a sustainable industrial ecosystem.' ENTREPRENEURIAL ZEAL On a road in Hefei, Anhui Province, which is dubbed 'Quantum Avenue,' dozens of quantum tech firms, including Origin Quantum, cluster along this compact stretch. In Shanghai and Beijing, the number of companies investing in this track is also on the rise. CCID Consulting's research shows that China's quantum computing firms increased from 93 in 2023 to 153 in 2024, a rise of nearly 40 percent. The country's quantum computing industry scale will keep rising swiftly to 11.56 billion yuan (1.61 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, maintaining an annual growth rate of over 30 percent, according to CCID Consulting. In 2023 and 2024, the total R&D expenditure in quantum computing exceeded 100 percent of the total revenue, indicating that companies in the sector have entered a period of active development. China's quantum engineers are exploring multiple technological routes: Origin Quantum focuses on superconducting, TuringQ and QBoson on photonic quantum computing, and Hyqubit from Beijing on ion traps. Now, in early development of quantum computing, the front-runners and best technical approaches have not yet been consolidated, meaning 'any country that is able to deploy quantum tech first will have a first-mover advantage,' according to a report published by the Mercator Institute for China Studies last December. China has built a full industrial chain ecosystem in quantum computing, covering quantum chip design and production, quantum computer manufacturing, quantum algorithm development and industry solutions, said Zhao. Cutting-edge attempts also include integrating quantum computing with generative AI. In April, Origin Quantum successfully fine-tuned a billion-parameter AI model on its quantum computer Origin Wukong, marking the first real-world application of quantum computing in large-model tasks. 'In the past five years, the surge of generative AI has brought about many disruptive changes in computing models,' said Sun Xiaoming, a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 'In the next five years, quantum computing is likely to move from labs to applications, and the integration of AI and quantum computing is expected to become a trend,' added Sun. – Xinhua China computer science industrial technology
AllAfrica
22-05-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
China's Origin Quantum upgrades its software for chip debugging
A Chinese quantum computer maker has recently upgraded its self-developed quantum computing control system (QCCS) to improve debugging, a process to improve the performance of its machines. The Hefei-based Origin Quantum, or Benyuan Quantum, has launched its fourth-generation QCCS, Benyuan Tianji 4.0, which supports more than 500 qubits, according to the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center (AQCERC). Guo Guoping, director of research and chief scientist at Origin Quantum, said the launch of Benyuan Tianji 4.0 indicates China's quantum computing industry now has replicable and scalable engineering capabilities, laying a solid foundation for the mass production of quantum computers with hundreds of qubits. The qubit, or quantum bit, is the unit of the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing. The higher the qubit, the faster a quantum computer. However, as different quantum firms use different definitions, it isn't easy to directly compare the performance of superconducting quantum computers in terms of their qubits. IBM Quantum Heron 2, dubbed the world's fastest quantum computer, has 156 qubits. Google's Willow quantum chip features 105 qubits. Origin Quantum's Benyuan Wukong, launched in January 2024, has 72 qubits. A McKinsey report last year predicted that quantum advantage, a situation in which quantum computers can solve problems much faster and more efficiently than classical computers, will happen around 2027-2030. By 2035, annual revenue from quantum applications in chemicals, life sciences, finance, and mobility sectors could reach $2 trillion. To boost the number of qubits, engineers need to manually debug physical qubits. They must also use software to correct every physical qubit's error to create logical or usable qubits. 'The Benyuan Tianji 4.0 system is built entirely on China's self-developed hardware and software,' said Kong Weicheng, deputy director of AQCERC and head of the Benyuan Tianji 4.0 development team. 'This enables more efficient control and precise quantum chip readout, significantly reducing quantum computer research and delivery cycle.' Origin Quantum sets up monitoring system for its superconducting quantum chips. Photo: Origin Quantum He explained that Benyuan Tianji 4.0 has four additional core software programs: service management software (Naga&Venus), superconducting quantum chip control software (Monster), full-interface quantum chip control and analysis software (Visage) and operating system connecting software (Storm). Kong said Visage is the brain and can quickly detect qubits. 'Every qubit of a quantum chip needs to be debugged. Traditionally, a PhD-level expert may take more than one day to finish this process, making the debugging cycle too long for any quantum chip with more than 100 qubits,' he said. 'But with Visage, junior engineers can run standardized debugging processes for quantum chips more easily.' US investment ban Quantum computing can support scientific experiments, but it is also a sensitive technology that can break sophisticated encryption, create highly secure communication networks, accelerate supercomputers for missiles and drone navigation, enable quantum communications and improve AI model training. In August 2023, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order restricting US investments in China's quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor sectors. Last October, the US Treasury Department finalized the relevant regulations, which took effect in January 2025. In recent years, China's state-owned funds have provided substantial financial resources to many quantum projects, encouraging local firms to build a complete supply chain and an ecosystem. Origin Quantum and Chengdu Zhongwei Daxin Technology can make a wide range of quantum equipment. Footage showed that Origin Quantum imported lithographic machines from Germany's SÜSS MicroTec to make its superconducting quantum chips. Origin Quantum develops its operation systems and software, following in the footsteps of IBM, which offers users a suite of tools such as IBM Quantum Platform, Qiskit SDK and Qiskit Runtime to run quantum computations. The company launched its 72-qubit Wukong computer and the Benyuan Tianji 3.0 system in January 2024. Wukong has so far completed over 380,000 quantum computing tasks across various industries, including fluid dynamics, finance and biomedicine. It is now accessible in 139 countries and regions worldwide, with major international users in the US, Russia, Japan, and Canada. Last month, Origin Quantum said it successfully used Wukong to boost the training performance of an AI model with one billion parameters by 8.4%. It said it also reduced the number of parameters of the AI model by 76%, which means an improvement in efficiency. However, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) said in a report that Chinese quantum computers are still far from being used in large-scale commercialized quantum computing. 'Most quantum technologies in China are just coming out of the laboratory, waiting for real applications and commercialization,' Jin Yirong, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, told Xinhua. 'It created a chicken-and-egg problem as immature technologies lead to insufficient applications, which in return limited the development of the technologies.' He said China lacks engineers specializing in quantum and classical computing, while local graduates can only fill half of the quantum-related job vacancies in the market. Read: China uses foreign machines to make quantum computers
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Chinese quantum computing firm tackles breast cancer screenings, drug design
Chinese quantum computing firm Origin Quantum has successfully applied its advanced technology in several biomedical fields, including breast cancer treatment, in a sign of progress towards commercialisation. Advertisement The Hefei-based company, which is backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has demonstrated the viability of its Origin Wukong quantum computer in biomedical applications such as breast cancer mammography screening and small molecule drug design, according to a report by the state-run China News Service last week. For breast cancer detection, the quantum computer could process high-dimensional medical imaging data 'exponentially faster', addressing common issues with traditional mammography such as high false-positive rates and inefficiency, according to the report. Origin Quantum also collaborated with Fudan University and other institutions to validate quantum computing applications in small molecule drug design and crystal structure prediction. It has launched several quantum computer-based tools capable of, among other things, predicting drug toxicity and handling drug interaction analysis, company deputy director Zhao Xuejiao said, according to China News. Quantum computers leverage the principles of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems much faster than classical computers. Biomedicine is one of the fields where researchers believe these cutting-edge machines could have a transformative impact. Advertisement In September last year, the US National Institutes of Health announced a programme named Quantum Biomedical Innovations and Technologies, aimed at 'furthering the application' of quantum-based technologies in biomedical use cases.
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
First encounter: Chinese AI meets quantum power and gets smarter, faster
Chinese researchers say they have achieved a global first in using a real quantum computer to fine-tune an artificial intelligence (AI) model with 1 billion parameters, showing the potential of quantum computing to help better train large language models. Advertisement Using Origin Wukong , China's third-generation superconducting quantum computer with 72 qubits, a team in Hefei has achieved an 8.4 per cent improvement in training performance while reducing the number of parameters by 76 per cent, state-owned Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday. 'This is the first time a real quantum computer has been used to fine-tune a large language model in a practical setting. It shows that current quantum hardware can begin to support real-world AI training tasks,' said Chen Zhaoyun, a researcher at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence under the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Centre. 05:00 Does the arrival of China's low-cost DeepSeek mean the end of Nvidia's chip dominance? Does the arrival of China's low-cost DeepSeek mean the end of Nvidia's chip dominance? The improved AI model also reportedly delivered better results on specific tasks. When trained on mental health conversation data, it made 15 per cent fewer mistakes and in a maths problem-solving test, its accuracy rose from 68 to 82 per cent, according to Science and Technology Daily. Fine-tuning is a key step in customising general AI models such as DeepSeek or Qwen for specialised tasks, such as analysing medical data. Traditionally, this process relies on powerful servers and faces multiple challenges, including limited ability to scale and high energy consumption. Quantum computing, by contrast, brings unique advantages. By leveraging quantum principles such as superposition – one particle holding multiple possible states at once – and entanglement, which means particles remain linked and instantly affect each other, quantum computers can explore vast combinations of parameters simultaneously, making AI training much faster and more efficient. Advertisement To enable this, researchers from Origin Quantum – a Hefei-based start-up that developed the Origin Wukong computer – worked with collaborators to create a new method called quantum-weighted tensor hybrid parameter fine-tuning.
Reuters
06-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Chinese AI firm iFlyTek eyes Europe expansion as US trade war heats up
BARCELONA, March 6 (Reuters) - Chinese artificial intelligence firm iFlyTek ( opens new tab is planning to expand its European business as trade tensions rise between the United States and China, Vice President Vincent Zhan said. "The U.S. and China trade war has some impact for us," Zhan said in an interview on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, adding that North America is the company's largest market outside China in terms of demand. Zhan said iFlyTek was aiming to diversify its supply chain to reduce any impact from tariffs while working to expand its business. U.S. President Donald Trump this week announced 20% tariffs on several Chinese electronics categories untouched by prior duties, including smart phones, laptops, video game consoles, smart watches and speakers and Bluetooth devices. Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, imposed new tariffs on Chinese computer chips last year. iFlyTek, with a market capitalisation of 123 billion Chinese yuan ($16.97 billion) based on LSEG data, currently sells in France and Hungary, where it already has an office. It also plans to open an office in Paris this year or next, Zhan said. "For next year, we have a plan to expand to more countries in Europe, such as Spain and Italy," he added without elaborating. Hefei-based iFlyTek, best known for its voice recognition technology, officially launched a new tablet in Barcelona that transcribes conversations. "This shows that iFlyTek attaches great importance to the European market," a company spokesperson said. Zhan said iFlyTek was considering additional European countries, choosing where to expand based on where it has partners. iFlyTek was placed on a U.S. trade blacklist in 2019, barring the company from buying components from U.S. companies, such as Nvidia's AI chips, without Washington's approval. It has used chips made by Huawei to develop its own AI models and has also integrated models from start-up sensation DeepSeek. "It is a challenge for us, but in the last two years, a lot of Chinese companies have started manufacturing AI chips," Zhan said. ($1 = 7.2468 Chinese yuan renminbi)
