Chinese company Origin develops system software for quantum computers
- ‘Operating system’ could improve efficiency ‘by several times’ but an expert says it is too early to contemplate
- Technology could eventually replace supercomputers but quantum computing is still in its infancy
Xinhua reported on Monday that Origin Quantum, a Hefei-based start-up in the eastern province of Anhui, had released what it described as an “operating system” capable of improving the efficiency of quantum computers by “several times”.
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Although prototypes are often crippled by errors, big tech companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft and Alibaba, which owns South China Morning Post, have ventured into the development of quantum computing. Some offered access to their prototypes on the internet, while others set up cloud computing platforms for access to different prototypes.
There are also a variety of quantum computers using different technologies to generate and manipulate the subatomic particles used for quantum computing.
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Origin said its new system, Origin Pilot, improved execution of computational tasks and automated calibration of quantum chips. It also supports a variety of quantum computers.
Guo Guangcan, director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted by Xinhua as saying that Origin’s system “can improve the operating efficiency of quantum computers by several times in testing”.
Origin Quantum served as a platform for commercialising the laboratory’s research, according to Xinhua.
Reflecting Beijing’s eagerness to make China self-reliant in core technological innovation, local official newspaper Anhui Daily said “developing people’s habit to use homegrown quantum operating systems” was important to avoid repeating the dominance of foreign systems like Windows, Android, iOS in conventional computing.
Experts differ over whether quantum system software is comparable to the common understanding of operating systems as used in daily lives.
Zeng Bei, a professor of physics with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and an expert in quantum computing, said despite efforts to improve these quantum computers’ user interfaces, the pressing problem is that the hardware required is “way behind the software”.
“Yes, people are trying to make an operating system, borrowing the idea of classical calculating, but actually at this stage we don’t actually need them because the key part is the underlying hardware,” Zeng said.
“We don’t have quantum [computers] yet. Without hardware, talking about operating [systems] or software is a bit too early,” she said.
