Page 2 - bne_Tech_11_2019

Top Stories
November 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Rosatom reveals plans for a quantum computer
while the remaining RUB10.4bn should be provided by private investors.
The project's first results could be felt already in five years, by which time the agency plans to develop four types of super-computers, with various basic units of quantum information, from 50 to 100 quantum bits (qubits), Ruslan Yunusov, head of Rosatom's project office for quantum computing, was quoted as saying by the Russian business daily Vedomosti.
According to Yunusov, quantum processors will be manufactured exclusively in Russia, but some other components for quantum computers, such as lasers, could be imported. Rosatom's computers are expected to be based in Russia, but, in a move similar to those by major global tech corporations, cloud computation capacities will also be developed.
Meanwhile, Rosatom may already have potential customers for its quantum computers as it has signed agreements on developing quantum computation with the Russian government and Russian Railways, the country's state-run monopoly railway operator. Rostec, a government-controlled tech corporation, has similar agreements for development and manufacture of quantum sensors.
Rosatom stresses that its quantum computer programme aims to put Russia on the map of major global players in quantum computing. However, there is still a long road ahead before Rosatom can come up with competitive technologies.
So far, Russian researchers have been able to make computers based on two qubits, while test systems developed in the United States and Western Europe are based on 50 to 70 qubits.
Similarly, when it comes to supercomputers, Russia is not among global leaders. The
global supercomputer ranking published this June features two Russian supercomputers, Lomonosov-2, built at the Moscow State University, which fell to 93rd place from 79th a year earlier, and a machine created by the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology (Rosgidromet), which saw a decline from 283rd to 365th place.
Google is apparently ahead of everyone else in the quantum computer game. Last month, it revealed a computer based on 54 qubit chips, which was able to detect patterns in a series of seemingly random numbers in three minutes and 20 seconds. A Summit supercomputer, the world's most powerful supercomputer at the moment, would take 10,000 years to solve the same problem, Google claimed.
Still, even global tech giants are far from mass production of quantum computers as major issues need to be solved first. According to traditional chip manufacturer Intel, "quantum practicality" is yet years away. Experts predict that quantum computers could be applied to real-world tasks no earlier than 2025.
Apart from Google, other tech majors, including Microsoft, Intel, IBM and China's online giant Alibaba, have been looking into quantum computing technologies.
Meanwhile, Rosatom sees industrial applications for quantum computers and is eager to compete for a role in the potentially promising segment.
However, challenges lying ahead are immense. In addition to building a system based on at least 50 qubit chips, as a smaller number of basic quantum information units wouldn't be truly superior to existing super-computers, Rosatom will also have to develop applicable software.
Experts quoted by Vedomosti say that, technically, building a Russian quantum computer by 2024
is feasible.
But a lot will depend upon funding for the programme. Over the last few years, the Russian