All-round analysis why China's quantum communication industry is leading the world

In late April this year, when the epidemic broke out in Shanghai, it was the busiest time for Dr. Chao Wang, General Manager of Shanghai XT Quantech.

 

Chao Wang, co-founder of Method Quantum

 

The China Academy of Railway Sciences, which sets national standards for the railroad industry, has approached Wang Chao with plans to bring quantum communications to high-speed rail. A few days ago, two Chinese information technology companies were exposed for selling high-speed rail data outside of China, which would potentially lead to a leak of Chinese rail communications and threaten the safety of millions of passengers. This is the largest high-speed rail network in the world.

 

Wang Chao said the Institute of Railway Science wanted to know if quantum-based cryptography, a technique that uses the laws of physics to prevent eavesdropping, could provide affordable information protection for the massive infrastructure involved above. "Traditional railroad communication systems have security vulnerabilities. Quantum security solutions theoretically provide improved protection through unbreakable devices and trusted relays, and industry customers have been able to afford this technology as private companies in the field work to provide cheaper, smaller devices."

 

Quantum communications is often considered to be the technology of the future and an industry that relies on government subsidies. But thanks to technological breakthroughs, lower costs and increased demand, it has recently become a booming, lucrative business in China that is turning more physicists into entrepreneurs.

 

Method Quantum was founded in 2017 by Wang Chao's mentor, Professor Guihua Zeng, who was working on his PhD in physics at Shanghai Jiaotong University before joining the startup. Because he believes that quantum encryption is a proven technology that is "getting ready to come out of the lab"; quantum devices are no longer bulky and can stabilize performance and can be integrated into traditional communication infrastructures. Major industrial users, including China's largest telecom service providers, power grid companies and subway operators, began expressing interest in mode-based quantum products last year, said Wang Chao. This is a significant change: for years, companies like Method Quantum have provided services primarily to the government.

 

01Chinese quantum companies: thanks to policy support

 

The earliest attempt to commercialize quantum communication technology was in May 2009, when China's most famous quantum scientist, Professor Pan Jianwei, and several colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) founded a company, KU Guodun Quantum Technology Co. RMB.

 

Just two months after Guodun Quantum was born, Professor Guangcan Guo from the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences founded another company, Anhui Wutian Quantum Technology Co.

 

Few people had heard of quantum communication technology at that time. The devices were mostly gadgets built for laboratory experiments, and few expected these joint ventures to be profitable: the startups were spared thanks to a number of large projects initiated by the Chinese government.

 

These include a RMB 560 million project to build a quantum communication line between Beijing and Shanghai - the "Beijing-Shanghai trunk line" - which received support from the central government in 2013. It provides a testing ground for many applications of quantum devices developed by Guodun Quantum and other startups, which use it to fine-tune their products and develop talent.

 

Employees working on the monitoring operation of the 2,000-kilometer "Beijing-Shanghai trunk line" quantum communication line at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, in September 2017.

 

QT Quantum, which was founded later than Guodun Quantum, has not received as much financial support as earlier participants, but has been involved in government projects in Shanghai and Guangdong province, with funding ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of yuan.

 

"I think the Chinese government is playing an important role in this area," said an anonymous Singaporean quantum scientist, "The country is providing programs for startups, and the strategic development of quantum technology is written into the plans of many provinces."

 

A quantum physicist from Guangdong, who also declined to be named, said, "Perhaps no other country has been able to spend as much money as China to build the 'Mozi' (the world's first quantum satellite), or to build quantum networks connecting distant cities, such as the ' Beijing-Shanghai trunk line'."

 

"China's achievements in quantum communications are due to its rapid economic development." He added that "until 2018, provincial governments rarely funded more than $8 million for a project, but since then many projects have received up to $65 million."

 

Local governments in China have also established incubators to attract startups that offer free rent and facilities, and sometimes funding. Guangdong, for example, has established industrial parks and welcomes scientists with innovative ideas in cities such as Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Zhaoqing.

 

Since 1999, laboratories at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have been working on the full range of quantum communications: from the underlying optical components to other hardware, software and algorithms. Wang Chao of Method Quantum says they can apply for tens of millions of yuan worth of government funding each year, a scale of financial support that is rare overseas. The lab where he works had a brilliant student who went to the University of Melbourne in Australia to pursue a PhD. "But then this student told me that the funding for the Melbourne lab was far lower than in China, or at least lower than at Shanghai Jiao Tong University." Dr. Wang said, "Without sufficient funding, some experimental research projects are difficult to carry out."

 

02Chinese speed: Applying theory to practice

 

Thanks to funding, talent and infrastructure, China has laid a solid foundation for the engineering application of quantum communications. Says Chao Wang, "Chinese scholars don't often come up with revolutionary theories, but the speed with which they implement them impresses their overseas counterparts."

 

To overcome some fundamental problems such as the inefficiency of quantum communication, a group of British academics proposed a new protocol in 2018 - two-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD). However, turning this idea into reality is very challenging. Only a year after the British team published its work, Pan Jianwei's team at the University of Science and Technology of China demonstrated the feasibility of the protocol for the first time over a 300-kilometer fiber optic cable.

 

Earlier in 2022, Guangcan Guo's team at the University of Science and Technology of China set another record by extending the protocol's transmission distance to more than 830 kilometers.

 

In January 2022, China created the world's first integrated fiber-optic and satellite quantum communications network: spanning more than 4,600 kilometers and integrating terrestrial fiber-optic networks and the Mozi satellite, it is capable of serving more than 150 industrial users across the country, including state and local banks, municipal power grids and government websites.

 

Cybersecurity experts live in fear of "Q-Day," the era when quantum computers will be able to break most modern encryption codes: the first commercial quantum communication systems appeared in the West back in the 2000s, but now Chinese companies drafting the industry standard have pushed Western competitors aside.

 

In 2016, shortly after the launch of the Mozi, academician Pan Jianwei said it marked the beginning of a "global quantum space race," one that China desperately wants to win.

 

A satellite-to-ground link was established between the Mozi quantum satellite and the quantum communication ground station in Xinglong County, Hebei Province.

 

03China's quantum industry: already attracting a lot of talent

 

Chinese quantum communication companies typically have more employees than their overseas counterparts, according to some industry experts.

 

Method Quantum now has more than 50 employees, according to a manager at Method Quantum. But by the end of 2022, the team will have doubled in size.

 

Last December, four leading scholars at the Harvard School of Public Policy and the Harvard Kennedy School said in a report that in quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum sensing - three areas traditionally led by U.S. researchers - "China is catching up and, in some cases, has even surpassed the United States. "

 

Unlike other technologies, the report says, China is in a position not to lag behind in quantum communications to begin with.

 

Among the priority technologies listed in China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), quantum information ranks second, behind artificial intelligence. Shenzhen released a technology policy in June that described quantum technology as one of four "future industries" that will become the commercial backbone of the city within 10 to 15 years.

 

However, quantum communications are still struggling to gain a foothold in most countries, and in 2020, the U.S. National Security Agency said it would not support the use of quantum key distribution technology to protect its communications, nor would it be involved in certifying or approving any security products based on quantum technology because it would increase hardware costs and introduce new vulnerabilities.

 

The anonymous quantum scientist from Guangdong said that over the past two years, an increasing number of local government officials have tried to encourage him to start a company and turn his research into products. But he has chosen to stay in the lab, despite the many supportive policies and venture capital investments.

 

I am more interested in developing basic components such as modulators and detectors that can be used in general-purpose communication systems: both conventional and quantum devices. Secure quantum communication is far from perfect, and many of the quantum encryption applications on the market need improvement. However, its rapid development in China will stimulate the entire industry chain, including detection chips, optical integration, materials, components and overall system design. I am confident that even though there will be many challenges ahead, more and more, well-educated people will enter the industry.

 

Reference Links

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3186402/chinese-companies-begin-embrace-quantum-technology