Chapter 600: Huge price (one/three)

America,
The headquarters of International Business Machines Corporation,
This is the world’s largest information technology and business solutions company. It is usually referred to as IBM. It has a number of heavyweight laboratories, including quantum computer experiments. In the field of quantum computers, IBM has very good which performed.
Unlike Google,
IBM puts forward the concept of ‘quantum advantage’ to show the ability of quantum computing to surpass classical computing for real application scenarios. The implication is that quantum advantage must not only reflect the crushing of computing power, but also be useful.
According to the Moore's Law in the quantum age that IBM believes, quantum volume will double every year, and quantum advantages are expected to be achieved in the 2020s.
IBM defines a "quantum volume" indicator, which is a parameter related to the number of active qubits and error rate-the more qubits and the lower the error rate, the larger the quantum volume.
therefore,
There is a sharp contrast between IBM and Google in the field of quantum computers. The emergence of Google’s quantum hegemony has only increased confidence in the scientific and industrial circles. It cannot bring real commercial value, because Google is used to demonstrate quantum The algorithm of hegemony is meaningless.
But quantum advantage is working hard for the purpose of realizing commercial value. No one can predict when it will come. It is necessary to find a quantum algorithm with practical value and demonstrate it, but this is not easy.
Orkney is the head of the IBM Quantum Computer Lab. He has just arrived in his lab, and as a result... the next second he was called by his colleagues.
"what?"
"Hua Guo... has developed a chip with fifty qubits?!" Orkney looked at his colleague with a look of horror. At this time, he was greatly shocked. In the field of quantum computers, Hua Guo There is basically no sense of existence.
"It's all reporting now." The bald middle-aged man said solemnly, "Orkney...you can read the news."
moment,
Orkney saw the news about fifty qubit chips in China. When he knew it was Xu Mang, he could no longer describe it as shock.
"This..."
"This is amazing, this...he came to the field of quantum computers quietly."
"Is it graphene again? He solved the "coherence time" of graphene qubits? How did this happen? I remember that although graphene has been studied in superconducting quantum computing devices, it has not yet involved coherence. The recorded report... Xu Mang actually solved it?"
"Xu Yang structure?"
"What kind of existence is this?"
Too many doubts filled Orkney's brain, making him feel suffocated for a while.
"Orkney?"
"What should we do now?" the middle-aged man asked: "If the report is true...then Xu Mang will lead the team and we will be on the same ladder."
"will not."
"At present, the research results in this area have not appeared in front of us. It is a little unrealistic to rely solely on news media reports." Orkney said seriously: "And our 53 qubits The quantum cloud computing service of China is about to be completed. At that time, we will maintain the world's number one position in the application field."
Although shocked by China's huge leap in the field of quantum computers, Orkney still has a lot of doubts if it depends on news reports. The most perfect solution is to provide relevant evidence.
Regarding the ranking issue, Orkney is even less worried that China will surpass itself. Fifty quantum chips only have this ability to join the quantum computer field, but in terms of application issues, IBM occupies an absolute height.
According to the layout,
Quantum cloud computing services will be the perfect embodiment of realizing commercial value.
"in case..."
"Subsequently, Xu Mang developed even more qubit chips, so... how should we respond?" The middle-aged man frowned, "We have no relevant solutions. Once this happens, we can only wait and see. Watching him become the number one in the world."
"will not!"
"Including our competitor Google, we only achieved fifty-three qubits at most. In a short period of time... fifty-three qubits is the limit." Orkney said with certainty: "It will not exceed This number."
Facing Orkney’s statement, the middle-aged man nodded. Although Google has been rumored to be testing a chip containing seventy-two qubits, there has been no news of this news and the past two months.
The so-called real quantum error correction is always in a concept.
at the same time,
Google Quantum Computer Research Laboratory.
A group of people are in shock. Many people have expressed doubts about China's achievements. In addition to the mystery of superiority, they also did not provide relevant professional research reports.
"fake!"
"They are good at making fakes." A young-looking man said disdainfully: "According to what I know about China, they don't have the ability to study fifty qubit chips."
In many reports, Hua Guo and Xu Mang have been questioned. Among them, CNN, which is regarded as a spam media by Xu Mang, is also known as CNN, specifically targeting China’s fifty qubit chips. An exclusive report.
And the contents...
Xu Mang was criticized for nothing and belittled China by the way.
"I think..."
"You need to deal with this problem rationally." A young woman said: "Xu Mang...he is a famous scientist who has the authority to speak in many fields. Since he developed it...I think There is a high probability that this news is true."
Regarding whether the news is true,
It is roughly divided into three categories. Some people think it is true, others think it is fake news, and some are waiting and watching.
quickly,
This topic passed, and everyone began to work intensely again, but there was a middle-aged man who kept watching the news, his brows were kept tight from the beginning, he was the head of the research laboratory, Professor Merck.
"how is this possible?"
"Hua Guo just uploaded an article on arXiv not long ago, about 20 input photons in a sixty-mode interferometer to achieve 10^14 state space boson sampling."
"Why suddenly... another fifty qubit chips were introduced?"
Professor Merck was lost in thought. Could it be... the team who uploaded an article on arXiv is obviously not Xu Mang, so... it shows that China values ​​quantum computers very much.
Before that,
Professor Merck is not worried about being surpassed. After all, in this field, Google and IBM have a monopoly on all related technologies, but now it is different... a person he least wants to meet, suddenly broke into the field of quantum computers.
Fifty qubits,
He actually got the ticket to'Quantum Hegemony'.
"Damn it!"
"How is this done?" Professor Merck frowned. Through a little bit of content, he knew that Xu Mang relied on graphene and used a kind of'Xu Yang structure' to realize qubits, and the content only ends here. .
at this time,
Professor Merck was very depressed. He had previously studied the application of graphene in quantum computing devices, but he and his team could not solve the problem of time coherence.
However, I never expected that Xu Mang from China would solve this problem, and... also used a method called'Xu Yang structure' to directly realize qubits on graphene. This... What is going on here?
What is Xu Yang's structure?
At this time,
Professor Merck thought of a terrible thing. It is possible that Xu Mang has found a structural form beyond Josephson's knot.
Bang bang bang,
The office door was knocked, and for a moment... a young man appeared in front of Professor Merck.
"professor!"
"Our'bruscone pine' chip... has encountered a little trouble." The young man reluctantly said: "Theoretically, the matrix arrangement of neighbor coupling is a necessary condition for surface coding quantum error correction, but... . It seems to be restricted in packaging technology."
"what?"
"Can't flip-chip welding work?" Professor Merck asked in surprise.
"Correct!"
"We found a lot of problems during welding, mainly in materials..." The young man glanced at Merck and said cautiously: "We lack a material. Although the material structure has been roughly determined through experiments, ..."
Pause for a moment,
The young man continued: "But we don't have a very critical glue."
"Binder?"
"What adhesive?" Professor Merck asked.
"That's...that's..." For a while, the young man didn't know how to speak, organized the language, and said: "The photoresist adhesive that Xu Mang of China has mastered, we lack this Kind of adhesive."
Hearing these words, Professor Merck's face was ashamed. Only Xu Mang has control of this adhesive in the world. The price is ridiculously expensive, and... the most important thing is that he will never sell it to European and American companies.
What to do?
The lack of this adhesive means that the ‘bruscone pine’ chip will fail.
"professor..."
"Will this project be terminated?" The young man asked with a worried look: "This project... we have put a lot of effort into it. If it is terminated, it will be greatly affected."
"I want to find a way." Professor Merck said.
Immediately after,
Only Merck was left in the office, and he was lost in confusion. If Xu Mang was lucky enough to sell himself this kind of adhesive, he would definitely make many unacceptable demands.
It’s not that this has never happened. MIT still circulates the story of Xu Mang's modification of STM technology and splitting it into two for technical fraud.
Technology blackmail...
Never imagined that an American multinational technology company would encounter technology blackmail.
"Ugh..."
Professor Merck sighed and found Professor Smith from Princeton University in the phone book~EbookFREE.me~ I heard that Professor Smith and Xu Mang have a very good relationship. Merck hopes that Professor Smith can communicate with Xu Mang and sell Give yourself a little adhesive.
quickly,
This call is through.
"Smith, it's me... Merck." Professor Merck said.
"Oh?"
"Is there anything to do with me? Merck." Smith asked curiously.
"you..."
"Can you contact Xu Mang for me?" Merck said helplessly, "I need his help."
After hearing what Merck said, Smith couldn't help but fell into silence. After a long time, he said solemnly: "If you are willing to pay a huge price, I can help you contact Xu Mang."
......