China Quantum Computer 105-Qubit Rivals Willow: Zuchongzhi 3.0

 

Meet China Superconducting Quantum Computer Zuchongzhi 3.0: 105 Qubits, Matching Google's Willow

On December 17, 2024, China's superconducting quantum computer Zuchongzhi 3.0, developed by Chinese scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), was published on arXiv.

With 105 qubits, it surpasses Google's recent achievement with the Sycamore processor — a 72-qubit system — by six orders of magnitude, marking a major leap in superconducting quantum computing.

 

 

What Makes China Quantum Computer Zuchongzhi 3.0 Stand Out?

China's Zuchongzhi 3.0 Superconducting Quantum Computer is part of a series of innovations aimed at pushing the limits of quantum computing in China.

With a 105-qubit architecture, Zuchongzhi 3.0 achieves high operational fidelities, with single-qubit gates, two-qubit gates, and readout fidelity at 99.90%, 99.62% and 99.18%, respectively.

China's Zuchongzhi 3.0 Superconducting Quantum Computer represents a major leap forward, offering more qubits and greater computational capacity compared to previous generations. Its ability to handle complex quantum algorithms at scale makes China a competitive global leader in quantum research, as with Google and IBM.

One of the core features of the Zuchongzhi 3.0 is its use of superconducting qubits, which are among the most promising candidates for practical quantum computing.

These qubits operate at extremely low temperatures and exhibit quantum properties such as superposition and entanglement, allowing for significantly more powerful computational capabilities compared to classical computers.

 

 

China Quantum Computer Zuchongzhi 3.0 VS Google's Willow

On December 9, 2024, Google announced the Willow quantum chip, achieving significant advancements in quantum error correction. This breakthrough reduces errors exponentially as it scales up using more qubits.

In 2022, Chinese scientists first achieved distance-3 surface code quantum error correction (QEC) on the Zuchongzhi 2.0 superconducting quantum processor, marking the first verification of the feasibility of the surface code approach.

In 2023, Google achieved surface code logical qubits with code distances of 3 and 5, demonstrating for the first time that error rates decrease as the code distance increases.

In the latest work from December 2024, Google utilized the Willow processor to implement surface code logical qubits with code distances of 3, 5, and 7, significantly reducing the error rates of logical qubits. This work conceptually validated the scalability of the surface code approach, laying an important technological foundation for integrating and manipulating large-scale quantum bit systems.

Currently, the superconducting quantum team at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is conducting related work based on the Zuchongzhi 3.0. They plan to achieve surface code logical qubits with a code distance of 7 within the next few months, with plans to extend the code distance to 9 and 11, paving the way for large-scale quantum bit integration and manipulation.

 

China Superconducting Quantum Computer: Scientific and Commercial Implications

The development of China's Zuchongzhi 3.0 Superconducting Quantum Computer is not only a technical achievement but also a significant step forward in the global quantum computing race.

The innovation and scalability of this system mark a new chapter in the quest for fault-tolerant, practical quantum computers.

SpinQ is a leading quantum computing company from China, dedicated to industrializing quantum technology and making it accessible to various industries.

SpinQ develops and produces industrial-grade superconducting quantum computers, educational-grade nuclear magnetic quantum computers, quantum chips, quantum computing cloud platforms, and quantum application software.

 

 

SpinQ's superconducting quantum computer has been a powerful tool for quantum research in fields including cryptography, drug discovery, quantum education, finance, and artificial intelligence.

In cryptography, the SpinQ quantum computer could potentially break current encryption methods, ushering in a new era of security.

In pharmaceuticals, its ability to simulate complex molecular interactions could accelerate the discovery of new drugs, saving years of research time.

Moreover, in AI, the computing power of SpinQ quantum computers can enhance machine learning algorithms, offering breakthroughs in tasks like optimization, image recognition, and language processing, etc.