China now owns the fastest Quantum Computer, 24000X faster than compeitors

China is a leader and it is showing why it is a global superpower right now. For all the complains that China is copying, the world is not giving the dragon a lot of credit. China leads in many technology areas and continues to advance to new ones.

China has managed to build the world’s first ever quantum computer, which clocks in at a whopping 24,000 times faster than its international counterparts.

Created by researchers at the University of Science and Technology at Hefei in the Anhui province, the quantum computer is a highly advanced machine, capable of performing multiple complex calculations simultaneously, like predicting the movement and behaviour of subatomic particles.

The basic idea behind quantum computers is that they perform calculations by keeping the system’s memory in a quantum state. So what exactly does that mean? Traditional computers store data in bits, which are represented by a 1 or 0, the foundation of binary. Quantum computer however, seek to apply the phenomenon of superposition and entanglement from quantum physics to the equation. In this case, each quantum bit (or qubit) can store a 1, 0 or any superposition of the two.

The short of it is that traditional computers process one operation at a time, whereas quantum computers can look at multiple states of data and calculate their outcomes simultaneously.

While the theory behind quantum computing has been around for decades, actually building the architecture required has proven to be a challenge. So far, researchers have only been able to replicate the technology with very small amounts of memory, less than what’s in your smartphone.

That’s why China’s development is so important; it marks the first single photon-based quantum computing machine that goes beyond the early classical computer.