China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has begun mass-producing silicon-28 with isotopic purity above 99.99%, breaking a foreign monopoly on a material critical to silicon-based quantum chips. The state-owned nuclear giant announced the milestone on June 15, securing an independent supply chain for a substance that can dramatically cut qubit error rates.
Natural silicon contains about 4.7% spin-carrying silicon-29, whose magnetic noise disrupts the delicate quantum states of qubits. By eliminating virtually all of this isotope, silicon-28 creates an ultra-quiet environment, a prerequisite for scaling up practical quantum processors. CNNC drew on decades of isotope-separation expertise — honed in nuclear weapons and energy programs — to achieve industrial-scale output. The new capacity will supply national laboratories and Chinese quantum hardware startups, including Origin Quantum and SpinQ.
The breakthrough arrives as U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors push Beijing to close critical technology gaps. Yet it also signals a maturing R&D infrastructure that could lower costs and enable fresh cross-border collaboration. For the East Asian research diaspora — many of whom pioneered silicon quantum techniques in Australia, Europe, and beyond — a stable homegrown source of silicon-28 may, over time, unlock deeper international cooperation even amid strategic rivalries.