Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Baidu has entered the race to build quantum computers

March 8, 2018

The Chinese tech giant lags its peers in quantum computing but hopes to incorporate the technology into its business in the next five years.

The news: Baidu announced today that it will launch a quantum computing institute. It will be led by Runyao Duan, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, with the aim of building devices that can be used in other parts of the business over the next five years.

Why it matters: Quantum computers hold immense potential and could perform calculations that today’s supercomputers can't. China is pushing hard to ensure it's at the cutting edge of their development, with its National Laboratory for Quantum Information Science funded to the tune of $16 billion over the next five years.

But: Baidu faces fierce competition, at home and abroad. Alibaba and Tencent have launched quantum computing research arms recently. And in America, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and Google are all trying to build similar devices—the latter two, particularly, with increasing success.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.