Origin Quantum

Overview

Origin Quantum is a quantum computing company based in Hefei, the city that hosts much of China's national quantum research. It was spun out of the University of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' key laboratory of quantum information. The company sells superconducting quantum computers and, uniquely among major vendors, says it builds every layer of the stack itself: the quantum chip, the measurement and control electronics, the supporting cryogenic equipment, the operating system, and the cloud platform.

That vertical integration is partly a technical choice and partly a policy one. China has made quantum technology a national priority, and Origin Quantum has become the best-known commercial result of that effort. It also runs education programs with nearly one hundred universities and operates one of the country's cloud platforms where users can run circuits on its hardware.

History and background

The company was founded in 2017 by Guo Guoping and Guo Guangcan, professors who had spent years researching superconducting and semiconductor quantum circuits. It built what it describes as China's first quantum chip production line and delivered the country's first domestically developed superconducting quantum computer.

The commercial flagship is the Origin Wukong series. The 72-qubit Wukong, its third generation, launched in early 2024 and was made available through a cloud platform. In May 2026 the company introduced Wukong-180, a fourth-generation system built on a 180-qubit chip with 251 coupling qubits. In February 2026 it released Origin Pilot, a quantum computer operating system, as a public download that supports superconducting, ion trap, and neutral atom hardware. Origin Quantum entered IPO tutoring for the Shanghai STAR Market in September 2025, and reports in mid-2026 described a large pre-IPO funding round led by a state-linked industrial group.

How the technology works

Origin Quantum's main modality is the superconducting transmon qubit, the same family used by IBM, Google, and Rigetti. Qubits are circuits made from superconducting metal cooled to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero in a dilution refrigerator, and microwave pulses control them. The company develops its own chip fabrication, readout electronics, and refrigeration, which is notable because dilution refrigerators and control electronics have been among the hardest components to source domestically.

Wukong-180 uses a design in which separate coupling qubits mediate interactions between computational qubits. The company says all four core systems, covering the chip, the measurement and control, the environmental support, and the operating system, are developed in China. It has not published gate fidelity benchmarks comparable to those of the leading Western or Google and IBM systems, so independent comparisons of quality are limited.

Origin Pilot manages tasks such as scheduling jobs, coordinating classical and quantum resources, running tasks in parallel, and calibrating qubits automatically. The company's decision to release it as a public download is a signal that it wants its software to become a platform beyond its own machines.

Products and platforms

Processors in our Hardware Database

• Origin Wukong — 72 qubits, released 2024

Key milestones

Strengths and challenges

Strengths

• The most complete in-house stack among commercial quantum vendors, from chips to cloud.
• Strong national support and a growing domestic customer and education base.
• Rapid hardware progress, from 72 to 180 qubits within about two years.
• An open operating system aimed at building an ecosystem beyond its own machines.

Challenges and open questions

• Limited public benchmarking of gate fidelities, which makes it hard to compare with leading Western systems.
• Export controls and geopolitical tension can limit access to components and international customers.
• The company is pre-profit, and a listing process on the STAR Market is still in progress, so timing and valuation figures reported in the media are not confirmed.
• Error correction has not been demonstrated at the scale shown by Google, Quantinuum, or QuEra.

Why it matters

Any serious map of the quantum industry has to include China, and Origin Quantum is the most visible commercial company there. Its path from lab spin-out to a multi-generation product line shows how quickly national programs can build capability when hardware, software, and training are developed together.

For readers following the field, the key questions are about quality rather than size. Whether Wukong-180's qubits are accurate enough to support error correction, and whether Origin Pilot attracts users beyond China, will show how competitive the company can become internationally.

Latest news

• Reports describe a pre-IPO funding round of nearly three billion yuan led by a state-linked industrial group — June 2026
• Origin Quantum launches the 180-qubit Origin Wukong-180 — May 2026
• Origin Quantum releases Origin Pilot V4.0 as a public download — February 2026
• Origin Quantum begins IPO tutoring for the STAR Market — September 2025

Frequently asked questions

This profile is written for educational purposes and summarizes public announcements, company filings, and published research. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. It is not investment advice. Check the company's official channels for the latest figures and claims.

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