China’s Origin Quantum upgrades its software for chip debugging
Chinese quantum computer makers are catching up, hoping to enjoy ‘quantum advantage’ in 2027-2030
A Chinese quantum computer maker has recently upgraded its self-developed quantum computing control system (QCCS) to improve debugging, a process to improve the performance of its machines.
The Hefei-based Origin Quantum, or Benyuan Quantum, has launched its fourth-generation QCCS, Benyuan Tianji 4.0, which supports more than 500 qubits, according to the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center (AQCERC).
Guo Guoping, director of research and chief scientist at Origin Quantum, said the launch of Benyuan Tianji 4.0 indicates China’s quantum computing industry now has replicable and scalable engineering capabilities, laying a solid foundation for the mass production of quantum computers with hundreds of qubits.
The qubit, or quantum bit, is the unit of the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing. The higher the qubit, the faster a quantum computer.
However, as different quantum firms use different definitions, it isn’t easy to directly compare the performance of superconducting quantum computers in terms of their qubits.
IBM Quantum Heron 2, dubbed the world’s fastest quantum computer, has 156 qubits. Google’s Willow quantum chip features 105 qubits. Origin Quantum’s Benyuan Wukong, launched in January 2024, has 72 qubits.
A McKinsey report last year predicted that quantum advantage, a situation in which quantum computers can solve problems much faster and more efficiently than classical computers, will happen around 2027-2030. By 2035, annual revenue from quantum applications in chemicals, life sciences, finance, and mobility sectors could reach $2 trillion.
To boost the number of qubits, engineers need to manually debug physical qubits. They must also use software to correct every physical qubit’s error to create logical or usable qubits.
“The Benyuan Tianji 4.0 system is built entirely on China’s self-developed hardware and software,” said Kong Weicheng, deputy director of AQCERC and head of the Benyuan Tianji 4.0 development team. “This enables more efficient control and precise quantum chip readout, significantly reducing quantum computer research and delivery cycle.”
He explained that Benyuan Tianji 4.0 has four additional core software programs:
- service management software (Naga&Venus),
- superconducting quantum chip control software (Monster),
- full-interface quantum chip control and analysis software (Visage) and
- operating system connecting software (Storm).
Kong said Visage is the brain and can quickly detect qubits.
“Every qubit of a quantum chip needs to be debugged. Traditionally, a PhD-level expert may take more than one day to finish this process, making the debugging cycle too long for any quantum chip with more than 100 qubits,” he said. “But with Visage, junior engineers can run standardized debugging processes for quantum chips more easily.”
US investment ban
Quantum computing can support scientific experiments, but it is also a sensitive technology that can break sophisticated encryption, create highly secure communication networks, accelerate supercomputers for missiles and drone navigation, enable quantum communications and improve AI model training.
In August 2023, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order restricting US investments in China’s quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor sectors. Last October, the US Treasury Department finalized the relevant regulations, which took effect in January 2025.
In recent years, China’s state-owned funds have provided substantial financial resources to many quantum projects, encouraging local firms to build a complete supply chain and an ecosystem.
Origin Quantum and Chengdu Zhongwei Daxin Technology can make a wide range of quantum equipment. Footage showed that Origin Quantum imported lithographic machines from Germany’s SÜSS MicroTec to make its superconducting quantum chips.
Origin Quantum develops its operation systems and software, following in the footsteps of IBM, which offers users a suite of tools such as IBM Quantum Platform, Qiskit SDK and Qiskit Runtime to run quantum computations.
The company launched its 72-qubit Wukong computer and the Benyuan Tianji 3.0 system in January 2024. Wukong has so far completed over 380,000 quantum computing tasks across various industries, including fluid dynamics, finance and biomedicine. It is now accessible in 139 countries and regions worldwide, with major international users in the US, Russia, Japan, and Canada.
Last month, Origin Quantum said it successfully used Wukong to boost the training performance of an AI model with one billion parameters by 8.4%. It said it also reduced the number of parameters of the AI model by 76%, which means an improvement in efficiency.
However, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) said in a report that Chinese quantum computers are still far from being used in large-scale commercialized quantum computing.
“Most quantum technologies in China are just coming out of the laboratory, waiting for real applications and commercialization,” Jin Yirong, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, told Xinhua.
“It created a chicken-and-egg problem as immature technologies lead to insufficient applications, which in return limited the development of the technologies.”
He said China lacks engineers specializing in quantum and classical computing, while local graduates can only fill half of the quantum-related job vacancies in the market.