Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is promoting the development of quantum computer technologies through cooperating with IBM and subsidizing research projects by academic and TSMC.

The ministry has signed a cooperation contract with IBM-Q cloud quantum computing platform, which will officially take effect on January 1, 2019. Under the contract, the platform will not be for any commercial purpose, confined to only academic uses.

MOST will offer an annual subsidy of NT$60 million to each approved research program by academic and industrial sectors to encourage their development of quantum components and physics, quantum algorithms, quantum computers, and quantum communication.

The ministry has recently approved three special projects proposed by research teams from National Taiwan University, National Central University, and National Cheng Kung University, with the projects to last five years.

TSMC is seeking to break through conductor limitations under super-low temperature and develop quantum computing chips through advanced fabrication process nodes.

Unlike CPU and GPU that require air or water for heat dissipation, quantum computer processor can operate well only under extremely low temperature of around -273 degrees Celsius, thus requiring the support of large-size freezing facilities. Accordingly, quantum computers can hardly be commercialized, unless semiconductor can be smoothly applied to enable quantum processors to operate under normal temperatures.