Multiple countries have “prohibited the export of quantum computers with 34 or more quantum bits” but no one is really sure why the landed on 34 specifically. 🤷🏻♂️ Export controls can be arbitrary. One country adopts a stance, and others follow. There isn’t always logic in some of the specifics. And remember, just about all deeptech can be dual use. A fun example - and a blast from the past - the Playstation2 had export controls placed on it because of possible military usage: “Parts of the machine resemble a small supercomputer in their ability to process high-quality images quickly--a characteristic of missile guidance systems".* 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eJVgyNNw * https://lnkd.in/ejswvhtG
I think the basic thought process was when the amount of (classical) memory required to simulate a (quantum) circuit about which there is no information known using a vector method becomes “large”. This is ~ 8 bytes * 2^n, so 34 qubits is the range at which it becomes beyond the realms of a “regular” computer. I still don’t agree that this makes it a sensible thing to export control…
Good luck enforcing export controls with a quantum system. You can’t know where it is until you look for it.. 🐈☢️
Hence, NVIDIA 's development of "Chips Lite" for China which may have possibly backfired on both ends: U S. government not too thrilled at the workaround and the Chinese government is encouraging preferred use of local vendors to support their own economy (and discourage U.S. tech dependence).
The irony being the best quantum computers, and allegedly with some application, have been developed in China.
34 qubits: you can simulate up to this amount with classical computers and open source software.
Peter Hughes
1w
By setting the limit at 34 qubits, regulators aim to balance the promotion of international scientific collaboration and commercial opportunities with the need to protect national security and maintain control over sensitive technologies.
Manoj Chawla
1w
All these are a form of “soft war”. You have a conflict but you haven’t started throwing stones at each other.
Nilson Ivano
1w
Technological ambiguity often stirs unnecessary stricter regulations for export control consideration.
Clint McVey
1w
could it possibly be, that above, it takes quantum computing to a level that could be deadly
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1wthe people who staff our government institutions are paranoid, and they are also often extremely simple minded people who blindly follow along with whatever is written on their government official forms without question, so this fits.