Quantum supremacy race heats up: China's new test blasts past Google

The race to unlock the true potential of quantum computers just got a whole lot faster. Google's October breakthrough, hailed as a demonstration of quantum computers surpassing traditional supercomputers, has been eclipsed by a new Chinese test boasting a staggering improvement by six orders of magnitude.

The Chinese experiment, conducted on the powerful 105-qubit "Zuchongzhi 3.0" machine, completed a complex task in mere hundreds of seconds. In stark contrast, the world's current supercomputing champion, Frontier, would require an estimated 6 billion years to tackle the same problem.

This achievement, published on arxiv.org on Tuesday, sets a new bar for "quantum computational advantage," a crucial milestone in harnessing the full power of this revolutionary technology. The researchers believe this work opens exciting avenues for exploring how increasing qubit count and circuit complexity can help tackle real-world problems more efficiently.

Quantum computing is still in its early stages. The race is on to prove its clear advantage over traditional supercomputers.

Back in 2019, Google claimed to have achieved "quantum supremacy" by solving an incredibly difficult problem in 200 seconds using a 53-qubit machine. However, a Chinese team countered in 2023 with a new algorithm that solved the same problem on a classical computer in just 17 seconds.

The concept of "quantum supremacy" has also seen some debate. In 2020, scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China proposed a more nuanced term, "quantum computational advantage," reflected in their groundbreaking "Jiuzhang" prototype.

With over 30 countries actively developing quantum-based technologies, the race for quantum supremacy remains a key battleground for global tech powerhouses.