On March 13, 2021, the State Council published the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives for 2035, formally listing quantum information among seven frontier technology areas for prioritized development. The plan had been drafted during the fifth plenum of the 19th Central Committee in October 2020 and adopted by the National People’s Congress.
According to the official English translation, the plan called for establishing national laboratories focused on quantum information, and for formulating and implementing strategic scientific programs in quantum information, computing, simulators, and precision measurement. R&D spending was to increase by more than 7 percent annually.
Quantum information appeared six times in the document, tripling the two references in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). Where the earlier plan focused narrowly on quantum communications, the 14th FYP expanded coverage to quantum computing and quantum sensing, ranking quantum information second among cutting-edge science fields behind artificial intelligence.