Academician Yu Dapeng Manufacturing quantum computers is more urgent than researching quantum computing

On August 16, the opening summit of the 10th China Electronic Information Expo (CITE 2022) was held in Shenzhen. At the opening summit, Yu Dapeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Shenzhen International Institute of Quantum Research, delivered a speech entitled "Quantum Computing: Disruptive Arithmetic". In his speech, Yu Dapeng said that theoretically, quantum computing has unparalleled arithmetic power and is a disruptive technology for intelligent processing of disordered large-scale data.

01Whoever has a general-purpose quantum computer first will have the world of the future.

Dapeng Yu firstly reviewed the development history of quantum science. Whether it is Newtonian classical mechanics or quantum mechanics, it is the result of mankind looking up to the sky and putting their feet on the ground.

In his speech, Yu Dapeng said that the laws of motion followed by microscopic particles are different from those of macroscopic objects, and quantum mechanics, which describes the laws of motion of microscopic particles, is different from classical mechanics, which describes the laws of motion of macroscopic objects.

"It has been 122 years since the establishment of quantum mechanics, and quantum technology has been practically applied." Yu Dapeng said that the most successful application of quantum mechanics is in the field of electronic information technology.

At this stage, industries such as artificial intelligence, metaverse and digital economy are booming, driving quantum computing into the public eye again. Yu Dapeng said that the basic feature of the fourth industrial revolution is the interconnection and interoperability of everything, the physicalization of information and the digitization of information. In this context, the von Neumann computer architecture digital computing will hit the physical limit, Moore's law will come to an end, which is determined by its physical principle.

On the other hand, the current volume of data doubles every two years, everyone is the creator of big data, and the huge demand for computing power makes the application of quantum computing imperative. Yu Dapeng said, now is the era of information explosion, from the smart city with very many cameras, to the national gene bank with huge amount of data, the huge arithmetic power demand pushes the current not so powerful quantum technology to the people.

In addition, people's ability to manipulate the microscopic world has also been qualitatively improved. Yu Dapeng said that the human ability to precisely manipulate microscopic particles such as ions, atoms and photons has reached an unprecedented height, and quantum regulation technology is becoming increasingly mature.

"The information age calls for disruptive and intelligent information technology, and quantum computing is born." Yu Dapeng also mentioned that the biggest advantage of quantum computing is the ability to make full use of all the high-quality resources of quantum mechanics. Compared to classical computing, quantum computers based on principles such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement are expected to play the limit effect for information processing, and thus can quickly solve problems that classical computers cannot effectively solve.

"It is not too much to compare the general-purpose quantum computer to the Manhattan Project. Whoever is the first to have a general-purpose quantum computer, owns the world." Yu Dapeng said in his speech that in the information age, arithmetic power determines everything. Quantum computing has unparalleled arithmetic power and is a national technology strategic high point. Driven by the demand for complex, large-scale massive data and intelligent processing, quantum computing provides powerful arithmetic power for the fourth industrial revolution characterized by digitization.

The potential applications of quantum computing and the market size in the coming decades will be very considerable. Yu Dapeng said quantum computers have unparalleled speed advantages for specific problems. He also quoted the World Economic Forum's view given at the time that "quantum computing will bring change to every level of science, technology, economy and life."

According to the report, in the quantum computing industry chain, equipment supply, chip processing, hardware manufacturing, cloud platform, quantum software/algorithm and industrial applications are the major directions that the global industry is laying out.

02Quantum computers challenge the limits of human beings, can not rely solely on physicists alone

According to the introduction, at present, China still faces some challenges in the research and development of quantum computing. In this regard, Yu Dapeng believes that scientific research should focus on the long term and not be rushed. Scientists should be able to ask major scientific questions, know the challenges of major technologies, but also clear major engineering applications.

"Many scientific researchers only use scientific instruments. A real scientist must be able to create instruments." Yu Dapeng said quantum computers are systems engineering that challenge the limits of human ability to manipulate the microscopic world, and physicists alone can't do it. To develop a truly useful quantum computer, people can do only 20% in quantum, 80% will need to do the ultimate in operating software, electronics and appliances.

In his speech, Dapeng Yu also mentioned the technical challenges facing quantum computing itself. For example, quantum computers now have several different R&D paths, including superconducting quantum computing, ion trap quantum computing, silicon quantum dot quantum computing, topological quantum computing, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of each technical route are equally obvious.

For how to develop quantum computing, Yu Dapeng gave advice. He said, first of all, China's quantum computing is still in the initial stage of development, the need to cultivate the industrial ecology. At present, Shenzhen is in accordance with the "20 + 8" layout of strategic emerging industry clusters, the construction of quantum information industry. Second, the research and development of quantum computers requires interdisciplinary talents. Research and development of quantum computers can not only rely on physicists, but also need computer hardware and software, electrical and electronic and other interdisciplinary talents to participate in research and development. Again, it is important to realize that it is more urgent to manufacture quantum computers than to study quantum computing, and to manufacture quantum computers first and then iterate on them. Finally, we should do a good job in popularizing quantum science and technology, and strengthen the training of talents and reserve future talents.