Recently, the metaverse and computing power have become two “hot words” in the technology industry. So, is there a relationship between the metaverse and computing power? As an important “base” for building a digital economy, what role does computing power play in the world of the Metaverse? Is quantum computing a necessary condition for the realization of the Metaverse?
Computing power is a new factor of production and the cornerstone of building a digital society. The construction of the new digital environment of the Metaverse requires not only computing power, but also the support of super computing power.
Without the support of the computing power network, the metaverse is impossible. Because the Metaverse places very high requirements on information and communication technology and related infrastructure, without the strong support of a powerful computing network, the Metaverse is like a castle in the air, staying in imagination.
How much computing power does the Metaverse need?
For a long time, the metaverse has emphasized digital space and virtual world, but it does not mean only digital space and virtual world, but can realize the interaction between the virtual world and the real world and the real society, and can realize the strength of the virtual and the real, so the metaverse is a It is an important new track that drives digital technology innovation and empowers the real economy, and there are views that the ultimate ideal form of the Metaverse requires diversified computing resources.
In terms of the role of computing power, it is not only the computing power of cloud platforms, servers, and databases, but also computing power from data collection, data transmission, user interaction, and edge computing. It is necessary to carry out multiple computing power innovations. To strengthen the scale of computing power and improve the robustness of computing power, it is necessary to combine multiple scenarios such as digital government, digital finance, digital factories, intelligent manufacturing, telemedicine, and virtual reality education to achieve full-process, integrated data format specifications, interface model specifications, Computation protocol specification, make full use of artificial intelligence technology, integrate applications in speech recognition, graphic image recognition, word processing, environmental perception, object attributes, etc., so as to better utilize the computing power of data centers, supercomputing centers, and intelligent computing centers Supporting macroscopic and complex prediction and decision-making, mesoscopic data statistical analysis, and even massive general life applications is the basis for the development of the Metaverse.
According to previous predictions, according to the concept of the metaverse, at least 10 times the 6th power of the current computing power is required.
This also means that the computing power required by the Metaverse cannot be achieved by existing technologies. The computing power of the metaverse era and the chips of the metaverse must be constructed and realized based on quantum computing technology and quantum science chips combined with AI technology.
Analyst firm Gartner predicts that by 2026, 30 percent of organizations worldwide will have products and services for the Metaverse. Where the metaverse will go in the future, we do not know, but the arrival of the computing power era is beyond doubt.
At present, whether it is the metaverse, or the implementation of technologies and applications such as smart medical care, unmanned driving, financial technology, and quantum computing, the support of computing power is required.
It can be said that computing power has become an important indicator for measuring the development level of a country’s digital economy, which will inject strong impetus into the digital transformation of all walks of life and is a new engine driving high-quality economic and social development.
How far is quantum computing from commercial use?
Now that we all know the importance of computing power, how far is the legendary quantum computing from us?
It should be pointed out that the quantum computing industry is currently in the early stage of exploration, with few core participants, and the upstream and downstream of the industry chain is relatively clear. At present, foreign technology giants such as IBM, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Honeywell, etc. are leading the industry Status, quantum computing upstarts such as IonQ, Rigetti, and PsiQuantum have received hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and are equally strong.
quantum computer
For China, domestic technology giants Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Huawei, etc. are also following up, but the leading quantum computing companies in China are mainly universities-based companies represented by Yuanyuan Quantum and National Shield Quantum.
Overall, the quantum computing industry chain at home and abroad has begun to take shape.
At present, there are two main aspects of quantum computing commercial attempts, one of which is quantum software. Compared with the high investment and high technology of hardware, quantum software is relatively easier, but it is still full of thorns. Creating a quantum algorithm is not as simple as taking a classical algorithm and adapting it to the quantum world. Instead, quantum computing requires an entirely new paradigm of programming that can only run on an entirely new software stack.
Several hardware providers also develop software tools, the most mature of which is Qiskit, IBM’s open-source quantum software development kit. In addition to this, companies such as Zapata, QC Ware or 1QBit, including companies dedicated to creating quantum software, provide tools to understand the quantum language.
A growing number of promising partnerships are forming, bringing together different parts of the ecosystem. For example, Honeywell and quantum software company Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) recently formed an alliance that has analysts predicting that a new player could lead the quantum race.
The other is cloud quantum computing, where the vast majority of quantum systems are currently sitting firmly in a laboratory environment, rather than being held back by their strong demand for ultra-high-vacuum chambers, cryogenic control systems, and other exotic quantum instruments. to the customer’s data center.
So, to give users access to these devices, some quantum computing companies are now launching commercial quantum computing cloud services to make the technology accessible to a wider range of customers. IBM and Google have both put their quantum processors in the cloud, while Microsoft’s Azure Quantum and AWS’ Braket services allow customers to access computers from third-party quantum hardware providers.
To ask how far quantum computing is, we can only say that quantum computing will become mainstream in the foreseeable future, but before it becomes mainstream, it still has some technical difficulties that need to be overcome.
In the future, what are the application scenarios of quantum computing in various industries?
From an industry perspective, the potential applications of quantum computing mainly include finance, transportation, logistics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, aviation, energy, meteorology and other fields.
Among them, from the perspective of the pharmaceutical, chemical, and new materials industries, quantum computing can simulate molecular properties, and it is expected to directly help researchers obtain large-scale molecular properties through computer digital forms, shorten the time for theoretical verification, and greatly promote drug research and development in the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new materials. .
For the financial industry, quantum computing is very suitable for complex financial modeling and has potential advantages in portfolio pricing and derivatives pricing. According to incomplete statistics, more than 25 large international banks and financial institutions around the world have carried out cooperative research with quantum computing companies.
In aviation, quantum computing can help solve some of the toughest challenges facing the aviation industry, from basic materials science research, machine learning optimization to complex system optimization, and has the potential to change the way aircraft are built and flown. In the meteorological industry, quantum computing can efficiently and quickly process large amounts of data containing multiple variables, and parallel computing and continuously optimized algorithms can facilitate the tracking and prediction of meteorological conditions, helping to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts. In addition, quantum computers can recognize and understand different weather patterns through machine learning.
write at the end
Now, for the vigorous development of quantum technology, we should maintain a rational and optimistic attitude. Now the rapid growth of technology and capital investment are inseparable from the silent cultivation of theory and experiments in the past 20 years.
For example, after humans built a huge classical computer in the 1940s, most people predicted that only a few such computers would be needed in the world. No one knows the huge impact of this invention on our lives 80 years later.
At present, it is difficult for us to predict how the emergence of quantum computers will change human society in 50 years. This is an opportunity and a challenge for us, and we must always believe that the new round of quantum revolution will eventually have a positive impact on our lives.
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