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Following the announcement in 2023 of Taiwan’s first domestically designed and built 5-qubit superconducting quantum computer, Academia Sinica has reached another major R&D milestone, announcing today the successful development of a 20-qubit superconducting quantum computer. President James C. Liao noted last month that the Academia Sinica team completed a new generation 20-qubit superconducting quantum chip, designed and fabricated in-house, and successfully integrated into a full quantum computing system. This achievement positions Taiwan among the global frontrunners and marks the nation’s official entry into the critical domain of large-scale quantum chip fabrication. The system is already open to domestic academic and research institutions for quantum simulation and related studies, and will eventually serve as a test platform for industrial users in hardware-software integration and algorithm development.

Quantum computers, regarded as a core enabling technology linking high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, are being aggressively pursued by leading nations around the world. After developing Taiwan’s first 5-qubit superconducting quantum computer, last June Academia Sinica successfully produced high-quality superconducting qubits on an 8-inch wafer platform. At the same time, it inaugurated Taiwan’s first quantum chip fabrication R&D platform and quantum computing test platform. To address the stringent fabrication control and uniformity demands that arise as qubit counts increase, Academia Sinica leveraged semiconductor industry experience in large-chip manufacturing—both in equipment and process control— to pioneer research in quantum chip manufacturing science, systematically building a quantum ecosystem.

Tackling Multi-Qubit Coupling Challenges and Expanding Computational Space

Quantum computers hold immense potential for quantum simulation, material discovery, and drug development, and can be integrated with Supercomputers for high-performance hybrid computing. Distinguished Research Fellow ChiiDong Chen, Executive Officer of the Thematic Center for Quantum Computing and Executive Director of the Quantum Computing Thematic Center at the Research Center for Critical Issues, pointed out that a practical quantum computer must possess both high-quality and large numbers of qubits in order to be functional. The newly announced 20-qubit system expands the computational variable space and demonstrates that Academia Sinica has mastered stable multi-qubit fabrication and qubit coupling, while also developing laser-trimming of qubit frequency and other key techniques. The team continues to enhance chip-stacking methods to reduce crosstalk between qubits, while improving control and readout efficiency, thereby boosting overall computational performance.

530-Microsecond Coherence Time: A Foundation for High-Performance Computing

A major technical breakthrough was achieved in extending the qubit coherence time (T1) from the earlier 5-qubit system’s 15–30 microseconds (µs) to 530 microseconds, greatly improving quantum state stability and enabling longer durations of computation. Assistant Research Fellow Chung-Ting Ke from the Research Center for Critical Issues explained that superconducting qubits are highly sensitive to electromagnetic disturbance. Beyond microwave control signals, any noise leaking into the packaging system affects performance. This landmark technical leap marks a boost to world-class fabrication capability and provides a solid foundation for building high-performance quantum computers in the future.

To promote international academic and industrial exchange, Academia Sinica will host the Superconducting Quantum Computing Workshop on February 4–6 of this year at its South Campus. Attendees will be able to test the 20-qubit superconducting quantum computing system on-site, showcasing Taiwan’s capabilities in quantum R&D and real-world implementation.