Author: Laurie Chen
BEIJING, March 19 (Reuters) – China is likely to develop national standards for post-quantum cryptography within the next three years as it invests heavily in research, according to a leading expert in the field.
Governments around the world are scrambling to develop post-quantum cryptographic algorithms designed to withstand future quantum computers that will become so powerful that current encryption methods will become useless.
China’s new five-year plan released last week elevated quantum technology to a core strategic industry for the future, along with industries such as physical artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion and brain-computer interfaces, and outlined goals for developing scalable quantum computers.
The United States finalized the first set of post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024 and plans to achieve comprehensive industry migration by 2035. However, China issued a global call for new standards last year.
Wang Xiaoyun, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University, said that given the sensitivity of data, finance and energy will become priority areas for migration to post-quantum cryptography.
“I personally believe that the next three to five years may be a period of explosive growth in the post-quantum cryptography industry migration (to China),” she said during a meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing that ended last week.
Unlike most international researchers in the United States and elsewhere, China’s post-quantum cryptographers are focused on developing “structureless lattice” algorithms such as S-Cloud+.
International standards based on algebraic lattices “have a certain degree of reduced security,” Wang said. “But structureless cryptographic algorithms basically don’t have this problem.”
China first developed a homegrown operating system for quantum computers, which was open sourced and available for online download last month, state media reported.
Google and other tech industry leaders are urging governments to accelerate the adoption of post-quantum cryptography. The cyber strategy released by the Trump administration last week pledged to maintain U.S. dominance in post-quantum cryptography and artificial intelligence.
South Korea plans to implement post-quantum cryptography across a wide range of industries by 2035, with pilot transition plans for 2025-2028 targeting key industries such as energy and healthcare.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
