IBM and Google fund quantum computing in the U.S. and Japan
IBM and Google are donating $150 million to quantum computing research at the University of Chicago and the University of Tokyo as part of an effort to strengthen U.S.-Japanese cooperation to stay ahead of China's quantum computing activities, according to the Wall Street Journal.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that quantum computers can simulate problems that current computer technology cannot solve, claiming that researchers "can do in one night what would take six months in the lab.
President Biden examines a quantum computer with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.
China has invested heavily in quantum computing, which may also have military applications in cryptography and weapons materials. U.S. researchers say Chinese labs have recently shown progress and are competitive in some areas. However, quantum computing experts say more basic research is needed before anyone can be sure the technology can deliver real-world benefits.
Some views on the foreign network say the U.S.-Japan partnership is an example of how scientific research with implications for security and economic growth is increasingly split between China and the U.S.-led camp, which includes allies such as Japan and Western European countries.
"We have to rely more on our allies for primary research," said Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Hiroaki Aihara, executive vice president of the University of Tokyo, said much of China's quantum computing progress is being kept in secret. "They are a very strong competitor."
For his part, Emanuel said frankly that the collaboration came about when the president of the University of Tokyo came to lunch last July and mentioned the university's quantum computing program. As mayor of Chicago, Emanuel had pushed the University's ambitions in the field, so he proposed a joint research program funded by U.S. companies.
IBM said it would provide $100 million in funding to the two universities with the aim of building a quantum-centric supercomputer containing 100,000 quantum bits within a decade - the company demonstrated a 433-qubit processor last November (2022).
However, the technology is still in its early stages. Google estimates that eventually a useful quantum computer will require a million quantum bits - compared with just a few hundred now, said Charina Chou, chief operating officer for quantum artificial intelligence at Google.
Chou said, "We (Google) have four orders of magnitude left in terms of quantity and four orders of magnitude left in terms of quality, so it's going to be a difficult problem."
Google will contribute $50 million to the two universities, the first time the Silicon Valley company has shared its quantum computers with university scientists and as part of a long-term research partnership. In addition to financial resources, researchers will also receive quantum computing hardware from Google.
The signing ceremony is scheduled for this weekend in Hiroshima, Japan - where President Biden and other leaders of the seven industrialized nations are holding their annual summit.
Participants say the partnership aims to produce a generation of quantum experts, not only physicists who design computers but scientists in neighboring fields who can use them to solve problems.
This week, the "longest shadow" at the G7 leaders' summit will be cast by two countries that weren't even invited to Hiroshima: China and Russia.
As the heads of the world's advanced democracies meet for three days in the western Japanese city from Friday, they will need to overcome some of their differences: as they aim to unite to meet the challenges from Beijing and Moscow, officials said.
This year's G-7 meeting in Japan is of special significance, and not only because of its location. The leaders of these democracies will meet in Hiroshima: because it is the site of the world's first nuclear attack, which is an apt reminder of the risk of nuclear war.
CNN says the G7 meeting is worth focusing on the following areas: the nuclear threat, the Russian issue, the China issue, and the debt issue ...... The Hiroshima meeting will be followed by an informal quadrilateral coalition leaders' summit in Australia next week: the U.S., Japan, India and Australia.
But with U.S. domestic economic problems boiling over and Biden saying he needs to go home immediately after the G-7 meeting, the G-4 meeting has now been hastily scheduled for Hiroshima as well.
The leaders are expected to discuss deepening their cooperation on a range of issues, from critical and emerging technologies to climate change and maritime domain awareness, according to a White House statement released last month.
In all likelihood, Hiroshima will host a series of "bumper" summits.
Of course, we could also see an escalation in U.S. trade restrictions on China.
The U.S.-China trade friction began in 2019 with former President Trump's decision to impose tariffs on Chinese imports. 2022, and in October the U.S. began directly restricting investment, exports and talent flow to China in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors. In the field of AI, the U.S. BIS added 28 Chinese companies, universities and research institutes involved in high-performance computing chips and computer goods to the Commercial Control List (CCL), including Dahua, Hikvision and other security IC companies, the "four little dragons of AI" Shangtang Technology, Kuangwei Technology, Yuntu Technology, Itu Technology, domestic High-performance processor leader Haiguang Group. In the semiconductor field, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued draft restrictions on semiconductor exports to China, including nine new rules covering the export of advanced integrated circuits, high-performance computing systems, semiconductor production equipment, and restrictions on U.S. persons participating in the operations of Chinese semiconductor companies.
On April 21, 2023, Bloomberg published a news release stating that President Biden will sign an executive order in the coming weeks restricting U.S. companies' investments in key Chinese industries, according to sources inside the White House. Discussions on the restriction have been ongoing for nearly two years, and a formal announcement is scheduled for May 19 during the G-7 summit in Japan.
The U.S. has been trying to rope its G7 countries into joining the investment restrictions on China's high-tech industries, sources familiar with the matter said, hoping to make progress in talks next month. However, other countries are not expected to take similar steps immediately, said one of the people familiar with the matter, adding, "The most likely outcome is to express support for the executive order after it is signed."
The executive order is expected to cover not only semiconductors and artificial intelligence, but also the quantum computing industry, the person familiar with the matter predicted. The restrictions will focus on investments that can play an active role in the management of companies in China, including venture capital and private equity funds, as well as joint ventures with technology transfer relationships.
Despite the windfall, the U.S. capital markets are still reacting tamely to the news: investment firms see little impact on their business, as the many previous restrictions have made them less enthusiastic about investing in China's technology industry.
According to PitchBook, the volume of U.S. private equity fund deals involving acquisitions of shares in Chinese companies in 2022 has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was a decade ago.Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Marvin Chen also said, "As U.S. investment continues to decline, the Chinese tech industry will become more dependent on domestic capital."
The U.S. attempt to curb the development of China's high-tech industry is clear, and as one of the strategic emerging industries, the quantum computing industry is bound to be affected by the policy restrictions. The key to the development of the industry is to strive to achieve independent control of the entire process technology, the recent construction of China's first optical quantum chip production line has been launched, a number of domestic quantum chips officially released, we have reason to believe that the resonance of technological progress, policy enhancements, targeted investment will help China's quantum technology industry break through the blockade, flourishing.
Reference link:
[1]https://westfaironline.com/technology/ibm-acquires-cybersecurity-firm-invests-in-us-japan-quantum-computing/
[2]https://www.livemint.com/
[3]https://www.reuters.com/world/japans-g7-summit-big-elephants-are-china-russia-2023-05-17/
[4]https://siliconangle.com/2023/05/17/ibm-google-commit-150m-quantum-computing-research/
[5]https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/18/asia/g7-summit-japan-key-issues-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html
[6]]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Hra456UlJ3wCC2eC8nlmpQ
[7]https://thequantuminsider.com/2023/05/04/us-releases-the-united-states-national-standards-strategy-for-critical-and-emerging-technology/
