A new chip called "Xiaohong" is the biggest quantum computing chip developed in China so far. It was developed by a team of scientists at the Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). This chip is made up of 504-qubit and will be made available to researchers worldwide via a new quantum computing platform.

Chinese scientists have developed the biggest quantum computing chip to be seen in China

This 504-qubit superconducting quantum computing chip was designed to influence the overall performance of quantum computers with a major focus on measurement and control says China Daily.

Xiaohong has been delivered to QuantumCTek Co., Ltd., a leading quantum company based in east China's Anhui Province. QuantumCTek plans to use the chip for an independently developed measurement and control system by the company.

While the chip is the biggest in China, it has counterparts in places like the US developed by quantum giants such as IBM and NVIDIA. Liang Futian, an associate professor at the center said that the chip's key indicators, including the lifetime of its qubits, its gate fidelity, and the depth of its quantum circuit are expected to perform at similar levels such as IBM’s quantum computing platform. 

Gong Ming, a researcher at the center said that this is not a counter-effort to challenge quantum technologies from other countries for quantum supremacy but that the main purpose of the chip is to promote the development of large-scale quantum computing measurement and control systems

Wang Zhen, deputy general manager of China Telecom Quantum Group, a quantum computing company backed by China Telecom announced that the company will collaborate with QuantumCTek to develop a quantum computer using the new "Xiaohong" chip. This quantum computer will be accessible to global users via a quantum computing cloud platform developed by China Telecom Quantum Group.

"It will allow users in various fields to conduct research on problems and algorithms of practical value efficiently, and accelerate the application of quantum computing in actual scenarios," Wang said according to China Daily.

The development of this superconducting quantum chip puts China in a good position to further develop applications and solutions that will run on that hardware to enable high-speed measurement and control systems across various industries both locally and internationally. So, although Xiaohong was designed locally, it is expected to be used by individual researchers and organisations around the globe

Already, China has developed Jiuzhang 2.0 and Zuchongzhi 2.1 which are 113-photonic quantum systems and 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computing systems respectively making it the only country to develop two technical routes to quantum computing in the world. So, this new chip is a further testament that China is heavily invested in the development of quantum systems and continues to push for breakthroughs in the technology so that it can be applied commercially in the global marketplace.

As the world continues to find ways to make quantum computing commercially viable, it is clear that research and development will be a big part of the activities as there is a high level of investment that has gone into it. The timeline for commercialisation is still unknown but there is consistent progress on this path and countries like China are a big part of the leading forces.