Explainer | How China hopes to win the quantum technology race
- The country’s plans to develop innovative new technology have long been shrouded in secrecy but now they form part of the national strategy
- Scientists hope to develop highly precise sensors, ultra-secure communications and superfast computers using the technology
China’s national quantum programme has been shrouded in secrecy until recently, when it was defined as part of the national strategy.
Britain, the European Union and the United States have all published plans in recent years to take a lead role in the global race on quantum science and technology.
China started work on a massive quantum research facility in Hefei in Anhui province three years ago, which has been designated as the headquarters of its national programme.
State media has reported the investment in the programme will reach 100 billion yuan (US$14.8 billion) by 2022, but no further information was disclosed to the public.
But earlier this month President Xi Jinping met some of the country’s top quantum physicists and told them that the programme was part of the national strategy as the world underwent “the biggest change in a century”.
He said quantum research would be “an advance-handed piece on the board” – a reference to the ancient Chinese game Go, in which a piece placed on a seemingly irrelevant area at the beginning of the game can help score victory at the end.