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China’s Jiuzhang 4.0, a photonic quantum-computing prototype developed at USTC, was one of 20 projects honored at the 2026 World Internet Conference Leading Science and Technology Awards. Its reported photon-counting record and speed advantage concern a specialized benchmark, Gaussian boson sampling, whose classical comparisons remain contested and whose commercial use is unknown.
China’s Jiuzhang 4.0 photonic quantum computer, developed by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China, was among 20 projects honored at the 2026 World Internet Conference Leading Science and Technology Awards. The recognition was announced at a ceremony in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, on Monday, according to state broadcaster CGTN; the award puts a high-profile spotlight on a prototype whose reported performance is measured on a specialized computing task, not a demonstrated commercial application.
Jiuzhang 4.0 uses photons, or particles of light, routed through optical components and detected at the circuit’s output. The USTC team described the prototype in a paper published in Nature in May. In experiments, it fed 1,024 beams of squeezed light into a circuit with 8,176 optical channels, or modes, and detectors recorded up to 3,050 photons in one run. The previous Jiuzhang 3.0 version recorded up to 255, according to the source report.
The system performs Gaussian boson sampling, which involves measuring patterns produced when photons pass through an optical network. USTC professor Lu Chaoyang told the official Xinhua News Agency that Jiuzhang 4.0 generated its most complex sample in about 25 microseconds. The team has also claimed that simulating a result on the classical supercomputer El Capitan would take more than 10 to the 42nd power years. Those figures describe the team’s benchmark comparison; they are not evidence that the machine is faster on general-purpose computing.
CGTN reported that award organizers received more than 430 submissions from 43 countries and regions. The 20 selected projects were divided among basic research, key technologies, and engineering and development. Other awardees included work on optical transmission for space-based quantum information and an artificial-intelligence agent platform for intelligent vehicles. The award recognizes a range of projects, rather than a single competition between quantum computers.
A Benchmark, Not a Commercial Computer
The award draws attention to China’s work in photonic quantum computing, an approach that uses light rather than superconducting circuits or trapped atoms to encode and process information. The photon count reported for Jiuzhang 4.0 is a technical milestone within its experimental setup, and the award may raise the profile of USTC’s research program. It does not, by itself, establish that the device can solve practical problems more efficiently than conventional computers.
The distinction matters because boson sampling has no known commercial use. Researchers use it as a test of whether a quantum device can produce certain results that are difficult for classical machines to reproduce. Even within that test, the result depends on how researchers model optical losses and what classical simulation methods are available. Readers should treat the very large time estimates as claims about a defined task and comparison, not as a broad measure of computing power.
Lu has said the team’s light sources and circuit design could support the creation of large three-dimensional “cluster states,” which researchers view as a possible foundation for optical quantum computers with error correction. That is a prospective research direction, not a capability the award announcement says Jiuzhang 4.0 has already achieved.
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How Jiuzhang’s Results Have Evolved
The Jiuzhang series is part of work led by physicist Pan Jianwei’s group at USTC. Its first machine, reported in 2020, detected 76 photons. Jiuzhang 2.0 reached 113, and Jiuzhang 3.0 reached 255, according to The Quantum Insider’s account. The current version’s reported maximum of 3,050 comes from a different and more developed experimental setup; photon counts alone do not explain every aspect of performance or establish practical advantage.
Claims of quantum advantage in boson sampling have been debated. A 2024 Nature Physics study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory used photon loss, a common issue in optical experiments, to simulate earlier boson-sampling results with classical computers. The researchers said their classical method matched ideal results better than the experiments did. The Jiuzhang 4.0 team says its new work was designed to address that approach and reports that its outputs can be distinguished from several classical imitations. The team’s further comparison with El Capitan is reported in a preprint posted to arXiv.
“The device produces its most complex sample in about 25 microseconds, “shorter than the blink of an eye.””
— Lu Chaoyang, USTC professor, as quoted by Xinhua
Limits of the Speed Comparison
The full practical meaning of the benchmark remains unsettled. The cited time estimate is a comparison made by the research team, and the source material does not provide an independent verification of that estimate. The award announcement also does not establish how the result would compare with future classical algorithms or with different assumptions about optical loss and experimental accuracy.
It is also unclear when, or whether, the work will lead to a useful application. Gaussian boson sampling has no known commercial use, and the cited research does not show that Jiuzhang 4.0 can perform general-purpose computing or correct its own errors. The planned role of cluster states is a research prospect rather than a reported, completed system capability.
Research Beyond the Award
The award ceremony recognizes Jiuzhang 4.0 but does not announce a new device, product, or deployment timetable. The next measurable developments will come from further research results: testing the team’s sampling outputs against classical simulation methods, reporting how the optical system performs under experimental losses, and demonstrating whether the proposed light sources and circuit design can produce larger cluster states.
The source material gives no date for a follow-up milestone or commercial release. For now, the award is recognition of a research prototype and its reported performance on a specialized benchmark; the extent of any broader computing advantage remains a subject for technical scrutiny.
Key Questions
What award did Jiuzhang 4.0 receive?
It was one of 20 projects honored with the 2026 World Internet Conference Leading Science and Technology Awards at a ceremony in Wuzhen, China.
What does Jiuzhang 4.0 do?
The USTC prototype routes photons through an optical circuit and measures their output patterns to perform Gaussian boson sampling, a specialized quantum-computing benchmark.
How many photons did the prototype detect?
The team reported detecting up to 3,050 photons in a single run. The source report says Jiuzhang 3.0 detected up to 255; these figures describe experimental maxima, not a general computing-performance score.
Does the award prove Jiuzhang 4.0 is useful for commercial computing?
No. The award recognizes the project, while Gaussian boson sampling has no known commercial use. The reported speed comparison concerns a specific task, and the broader claims remain open to technical scrutiny.
What remains contested about its performance?
Researchers have shown that photon loss can affect boson-sampling experiments and that classical methods can reproduce some earlier results. The Jiuzhang 4.0 team says its outputs differ from several classical imitations, but the cited source does not establish an independent resolution of all benchmark comparisons.
Source: thequantuminsider.com
