Origin Quantum launches Origin Wukong-180, a 180-computational-qubit fourth-generation superconducting quantum computer, with global cloud access from day one
On 2026-05-09 (Saturday) Origin Quantum (Hefei, China) launched the Origin Wukong-180, its fourth-generation domestically developed superconducting quantum computer, with global cloud access available from the launch day forward. The system uses a single-core superconducting quantum chip containing 180 computational qubits, supported by 251 coupling qubits used to mediate interactions (Origin's announcement distinguishes coupling qubits from computational qubits for cross-vendor comparison purposes). Reported named-metric performance per Origin's announcement: 99.9% single-qubit gate fidelity, 99% two-qubit gate fidelity, and 99% readout fidelity. The Wukong-180 succeeds the third-generation 72-qubit Origin Wukong system that went online in January 2024 and has, per Origin's disclosure, served roughly 50 million remote visits from users across more than 160 countries and completed more than 900,000 quantum-computing jobs over its operating lifetime (figures Origin reports as cumulative across the Wukong cloud platform). The integrated stack accompanying Wukong-180 includes the OriginQ Tianji 4.0 quantum control-and-readout system, second-generation high-density microwave interconnect modules, the Origin Pilot quantum operating system, the QPanda programming framework, and the OriginQ Cloud platform - building on Origin's vertically-integrated production of the QPU, dilution refrigerators (SL400/SL1000), measurement-control electronics, system software, and cloud-access layer.
Score 7. §8.2 anchor row 7 'IBM Condor-class qubit-count announcement (~1000+ qubits)' is the qubit-count band reference; 180 computational qubits falls below the 1000+ Condor anchor but constitutes a credible 2.5x step-change from Origin's prior generation (72 -> 180) and lands on the same band as the 2026-04-07 Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q general-availability event (also scored 7: 108-qubit superconducting modular system at 99.1% median two-qubit fidelity, GA). Origin Wukong-180 is the closest Chinese-superconducting-stack counterpart and the score-7 placement reflects (a) named-metric performance disclosure (99.9%/99%/99%, comparable to the Rigetti 99.1% 2Q median but below IBM Heron's 99.9% best-in-class), (b) immediate global cloud accessibility on the launch day, (c) vertical integration of QPU + cryostat + control + OS + framework + cloud, (d) Tier-1 trade-press confirmation (The Quantum Insider, Quantum Computing Report, Quantum Zeitgeist, ExecutiveBiz) plus state-media corroboration (CGTN, Global Times) and Origin's own corporate disclosure. Score held at 7 rather than 8 because the 99% two-qubit gate fidelity is below the published best-in-class superconducting figures (Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q 99.8% on the 2026-05-11 Q1 print and IBM Heron at 99.9%+), no independent third-party benchmark on the 180-qubit chip has been published, the 251 coupling-qubit framing complicates direct cross-vendor qubit-count comparisons, and the 180-qubit count itself sits below the 1000+ Condor-class anchor. Surfaced 6 days late per Step 7b within the trailing-10-day window; transparently attributed.
The Wukong-180 launch materially advances the global superconducting modality race and reframes the Sino-US competitive arc. Watch for: (a) third-party benchmark publications on the Wukong-180 from independent groups, particularly named-metric Quantum Volume or randomized-benchmarking sequence-fidelity results - none disclosed at launch; (b) early Wukong-180 user-published benchmark or scientific-result preprints surfacing on arXiv quant-ph, which would provide indirect external validation of the named-metric figures; (c) Origin's roadmap for the fifth-generation Wukong system - the cadence between Wukong (72-qubit, January 2024) and Wukong-180 (180-qubit, May 2026) is approximately 28 months; (d) the implication for the listed-quantum cohort competitive dynamics, particularly whether Origin's chip-architecture and 99% 2Q fidelity disclosure provokes a published response from Rigetti, IBM Quantum, IonQ, or Google Quantum AI; (e) the export-control posture for Wukong-180 cloud access - Origin states 'global users' but US/EU/Japan/Korea/Taiwan client-jurisdiction availability under their respective sanctions regimes is not separately disclosed and is the most relevant downstream signal for whether non-China commercial customers can in practice access the system; (f) any movement on the broader Chinese quantum-stack ecosystem (Hanyuan-2 neutral-atom 200-qubit dual-core system, QBoson photonic stack post-2026-04-06 Series B, USTC Jiuzhang photonic family) as parallel China-stack milestone events. Origin Quantum's inclusion in the master_list and Wukong-180's positioning within the 'NVIDIA Ising ecosystem adoption curve' open thread should be monitored - Origin is not currently among the named Ising day-one adopters, and any subsequent Ising integration would be a meaningful cross-Pacific tooling-layer signal.