Quantum Computing: From Theory to the Future Industrial Engine
Quantum computing is accelerating toward engineering practice, with China making new progress through multiple parallel approaches. Technical breakthroughs and real-world challenges coexist. Click to learn how quantum computing will move forward next.
Quantum computing is gradually moving from theoretical conception to engineering practice. On August 2, the People's Daily client published an article introducing, through a popular science explanation by Yu Dapeng, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Shenzhen International Quantum Academy, the development history, technical paths, and realworld challenges of quantum computing.
The article points out that the foundation of quantum computing comes from the development of quantum mechanics in the 20th century. As the research of scientists such as Planck, Einstein, Schrödinger, and Heisenberg advanced, quantum theory gradually took shape, and this also drove the emergence of technologies such as lasers, semiconductors, and magnetic resonance imaging. In the 1980s, Feynman proposed the idea of using quantum systems to simulate the quantum world, opening up a research direction for quantum computing.
After entering the 21st century, quantum computing has been driven by factors such as growing demand for computing power, improved quantum control capabilities, and the deepening of quantum theory, with multiple parallel development paths including superconducting, ion trap, photonic quantum, neutral atom, and siliconbased quantum dots. The article mentions that China has continued to make progress in photonic quantum and superconducting quantum computing, and related prototype machines have repeatedly set new records. At the same time, quantum computing still falls short of largescale, errorcorrected, and generalpurpose applications, and the future remains in a critical stage of major breakthroughs.