Between 2020 and 2021, the Hefei National Laboratory was formally inaugurated as China’s first new-generation national laboratory. Originally designated as the National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences, the facility was rebranded to the geographically broader “Hefei National Laboratory,” reflecting its expanded scope beyond quantum to other frontier technologies.
As documented by Post Quantum, the campus covered approximately 49 hectares with around 480,000 square meters of planned building space. Phase 1 construction investment came to approximately 7 billion yuan (roughly $1 billion). The laboratory operates under a board that includes representatives from MOST, CAS, Anhui provincial government, Hefei municipal government, and USTC leadership.
Pan Jianwei served as operational director. Research groups at the laboratory produced quantum computational advantage demonstrations on two separate hardware platforms and continued to expand the national quantum communication backbone.