2682 Photons Controlled in China Telecom’s New Quantum Computer Tianyan-P2000
China Telecom has activated the Tianyan-P2000, a new photonic quantum computer capable of controlling 2,682 photons and now accessible via its cloud platform to researchers globally. The system recently completed a complex computation in 29 microseconds, a calculation estimated to require 16 billion years for even the most powerful classical supercomputers. This achievement marks China’s first online quantum advantage service utilizing photonic technology, offering a potential alternative to superconducting systems that demand extreme cooling. “With Tianyan-P2000 online, our platform has become the world’s first cloud platform capable of providing quantum advantage services through both photonic and superconducting technologies,” said Huang Wenya, a senior product manager of the Tianyan quantum cloud platform. According to China Telecom Quantum Group, the room-temperature operation and longer coherence times of this photonic approach offer advantages in cost and scalability. Tianyan-P2000: Photonic Quantum Computing and Cloud Access The Tianyan-P2000 photonic quantum computer, now operational and linked to China Telecom’s cloud platform, demonstrates a significant advance in qubit control with its ability to manage 2,682 photons, a figure indicative of its computational power. This achievement builds upon the core architecture of Jiuzhang 4.0, a prototype previously highlighted in Nature for surpassing classical computers in a specialized task, and represents a move toward wider accessibility for quantum computing resources. This speed is enabled by the fundamental principles of quantum computation, where, as explained by China Science Communication, quantum computers explore multiple possibilities simultaneously, unlike their classical counterparts which process information sequentially. Currently, Tianyan-P2000 is serving research institutions, universities, and businesses, with applications already launched in areas such as graph data analysis, drug discovery, an
