The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Alibaba's cloud computing subsidiary Aliyun have co-founded the Chinese Academy of Sciences–Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory in Shanghai.

The new research facility aims to take the study and applications of quantum theory to the next level, heralding new technologies and platforms for information security, connectivity and computing.

Chunli Bai, President of CAS, Jianwei Pan, Professor and Executive Vice President of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and a CAS member, and Alibaba Group Chief Technology Officer Jian Wang signed the MoU at the ceremony in Shanghai.

Under the terms of the agreement, the laboratory will conduct pioneering research in quantum theory with a view to discovering ground-breaking security techniques for e-commerce and data centers, as well as to enhancing computing performance.

Both parties will jointly promote the research, development, dissemination and application of quantum computing to lay a strong and stable technical foundation for China to push the envelope on quantum computing.

"The laboratory will combine the technical advantages of Aliyun in classical calculation algorithms, structures and cloud computing with those of CAS in quantum computing, quantum analog computing and quantum artificial intelligence, so as to break the bottlenecks of Moore's Law and classical computing," said Professor Pan.

Pan is a CAS member, and spearheads a group of experts who have played a key role in enabling China to become an international research hub in the field of quantum theory.

The laboratory will recruit top-notch talent to build a "dream team" for quantum computing research. The team will consist of internationally recognized scientists who will strengthen the scientific community in China, and also put the laboratory on the world map for quantum theory with the publication of significant scientific research.

Telecom Asia, 2015-08-10, http://www.telecomasia.net/content/cas-aliyun-open-quantum-computing-lab