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Tech war: China boosts quantum computer production with self-developed chips amid US sanctions


Origin Quantum, a research firm added to the US trade blacklist this year, is expanding its superconducting quantum computer production.

A US-sanctioned Chinese company is upgrading its production line of superconducting quantum computers – the first in the country – after finding initial success with a self-developed chip, a move that state media said can elevate the nation’s ability to independently manufacture those cutting-edge machines.


Origin Quantum – a research firm based in Hefei, capital of eastern Anhui province – has kept its 72-qubit quantum computing chip running in “stable operation” on its Origin Wukong superconducting quantum computer for nine months, according to a People’s Daily report on Tuesday, citing an executive at the company.


The firm’s chip laboratory is now enlarging its chip production line, with the aim of delivering a newer generation of quantum chips with better performance, higher qubits and greater stability, the report said.

The company is also expanding its superconducting quantum computer assembly line, so that it can eventually put together at least eight units simultaneously, up from a maximum of five at present, according to the report.


The Origin Wukong quantum computer. Photo: CCTV


Origin Quantum is boosting its operations amid China’s nationwide drive towards technological self-sufficiency. That push has become more urgent as the US has ramped up efforts to thwart China’s progress by curbing its access to advanced American technologies with trade controls.


In August last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order blocking US investments into hi-tech fields in China – including semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technology and certain artificial intelligence systems – citing national security threats.

Origin Quantum was among 22 quantum computing research institutions in China that were added to a US trade blacklist in May this year. Those entities were targeted for “acquiring or attempting to acquire US-origin items to enhance [China’s] quantum capabilities”, the US Department of Commerce said at the time.


Days after Origin Quantum landed on the US entity list, the company told Chinese media it had successfully created a “high-density microwave interconnect module”, enabling it to independently produce all core components of its quantum computers domestically.

Born out of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Origin Quantum was founded in 2017 by quantum physicists Guo Guoping and Guo Guangcan from the University of Science and Technology of China.


It has received the financial backing of prominent state-owned funds, including the China Internet Investment Fund under the Cyberspace Administration of China, and Shenzhen Capital Group.


The Origin Wukong computer, launched in January, has performed more than 270,000 quantum computing tasks coming from 133 countries and regions, according to the People’s Daily report.


Countries that already own quantum computers, including the US, Japan and Canada, have shown a high level of interest in Origin Wukong, with American users accessing the machine far more frequently than those from other countries, the company told Chinese media in May.


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Facundo Diaz

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