Taiwan Urged to Accelerate Quantum Computing Development

(Digi-Times) Chii Dong Chen, a physics researcher at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, pointed out that Taiwan-based IT companies’ progresses in quantum computing remains unclear. This could lead to the country missing out on the opportunity from a tech segment that both the US and China see as a new battlefield.
Taiwan-based IT enterprises including TSMC, Quanta Computer and Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision Industry) have all invested in developing quantum technologies, but these companies so far have shown no obvious progresses in related development.
TSMC chairman Mark Liu only has said that the company will not miss out on the quantum computing era. Quanta chairman Barry Lam has said the company has already begun development of quantum technologies, eyeing the business opportunities from cloud computing and IoT devices.
Foxconn chairman Liu Young-Way noted that the company has already established an R&D center for quantum computing and expects its applications to become an industry growth driver five years from now.
Chen believes it is not too late for Taiwan to pick up its pace in quantum computing research, as the first transistor was invented in 1947, but Taiwan’s semiconductor and IT industries did not begin operation until 1980s.