Microsoft's Majorana 1: A Quantum Leap in Computing with New State of Matter

ETtech Explainer: Microsoft's 'new state of matter' chips offer a quantum leap in tech

Microsoft unveiled Majorana 1, the first quantum processor built on topoconductors, offering greater stability and scalability. It aims for million-qubit processing, surpassing Google's Willow chip, potentially revolutionising cryptography, AI, and drug discovery.Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled Majorana 1 -- the world's first quantum processor built on topoconductor (not semiconductor), which chief executive Satya Nadella termed a new state of matter after solid, liquid and gas. Majorana 1 is a palm-sized chip which can reach million-qubit processing speed within years, not decades, Nadella said. For comparison, Google's Willow quantum chip, unveiled in December 2024, was stable only up to 105 qubits. ET explains what the chip is about, how does it compare with Google's Willow and what the quantum future beholds. What is quantum computing? In physics, quantum means the smallest unit of any physical entity. For example, a quantum of light is a photon, and a quantum of electricity is an electron. When laws of quantum physics are used in computing, they process information way differently than traditional computers. For example, CPUs and GPUs use bits that are either 0 or 1 to perform calculations. Quantum computers use 'qubits', which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time. It is this property of a qubit that allows quantum computers to solve mammoth complex tasks faster. Qubits can also entangle and interfere with each other, giving them parallel processing abilities in a unique way. For instance, Google's Willow chip, which had only 105 qubits, is capable of solving in five minutes a computational problem that would take the world's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years (roughly the age of the universe). The computational capabilities of qubits are unfathomable. But there are challenges Qubits are notoriously delicate. Even the tiniest interactions with their surroundings -- like electromagnetic fields, heat, or vibrations, can cause a qubit to lose its properties. Once a single qubit collapses, it could cause the entire computation to fall through. Therefore, qubits are known to remain stable only for a few minutes. It is difficult to control error rates. They operate at near-zero temperatures, making it impossible for everyday use. Needless to say, it is much more expensive to run. Researchers, for decades, have been trying to master the properties of qubits which has the potential of solving cryptographic problems, drug discovery and genome sequencing which are not possible by traditional computers. What has Microsoft done with Majorana? Microsoft took a step back and engineered a new material called 'topoconductor' which is more stable, smaller in size, error-resistant and can be digitally controlled. This new "architecture used to develop the Majorana 1 processor offers a clear path to fit a million qubits on a single chip", the company said in a blog. The topoconductor was built with a new materials stack made of indium arsenide and aluminium. In contrast, most semiconductors are made of silicon. "All the world's current computers operating together can't do what a one-million-qubit quantum computer will be able to do," the company claims. Google's Willow, on the other hand, is a more mature version of existing semiconducting qubits. But why does it matter? If Majorana, and also improvements in Willow, perform the way they are hoped for, they can serve real-world quantum-computing applications like cryptographic security, chemistry, drug discovery, artificial intelligence and much more. With the latest announcement, that future appears to be nearer than previously thought. Also Read: Microsoft announces $3 billion investment in India, to train 10 million in AI skills

Microsoft's quantum chip Majarona 1 is a few qubits short

Microsoft's quantum computing scientists announced they have finally realized a long-held goal of building a "topological qubit", the equivalent of a transistor for ordinary chips, that may help advance quantum computing. The qubit is the functional element of a quantum chip, called Majorana 1, based on an exotic particle, a hybrid of matter and anti-matter discovered in the past 20 years. Also: Google's quantum breakthrough is 'truly remarkable' - but there's more to do "Majorana 1 marks a transformative leap toward practical quantum computing," states Microsoft in the blog post by Chetan Nayak, head of quantum hardware. However, the caveats suggest you should take Microsoft's breakthrough with a big grain of salt. In addition, the Majorana 1 is not even a beta product as far as computing goes, maybe not even alpha. It cannot do any useful work until it somehow is extended with many more qubits, known in technical terms as "scaling" the device. The topological qubit is unlike other quantum devices because of the way it leverages a particular breakthrough in materials science. The "Majorana fermion" is a particle with the property of being both matter and anti-matter. The particle existed as a hypothesis for decades until researchers confirmed its existence in 2012. The name of the Microsoft chip, Majorana 1, is a nod to the importance of the particle. Microsoft is unique among quantum computing researchers by chasing the fermions as the root of their qubit endeavor. Microsoft claims the topological qubit could be far more useful in any ultimate quantum device because it is, in a sense, more "digital" than other quantum machines. Also: If you're not working on quantum-safe encryption now, it's already too late All quantum approaches have to measure the output of a qubit as if measuring a continuous variable like a flow of water. However, the topological qubit essentially alternates between two electrical states, so it's simpler to measure, as described in a separate technical paper posted by the Microsoft team on the arXiv pre-print server. Those elements of Microsoft's approach are mostly theoretical until proven. And there are grounds for caution because the very existence of a topological qubit is something that has to be inferred, rather than directly observed. In the Nature technical paper, Microsoft scientists claim to have indirectly measured the topological qubit inside Majorana 1, though some scientists briefed on the device have their doubts. Lead author Morteza Aghaee and dozens of colleagues describe the Majorana 1 as a computer chip made of indium arsenide and aluminum. The chip is fashioned as a collection of nanowires that cause a reaction in quantum dots, leading to the topological qubit. The presence of the topological qubit is measured by an interferometer, a device that uses the intersection of light beams to measure the "parity" of the quantum dot. Also: Google's AI Co-scientist is 'test-time scaling' on steroids. What that means for research However, Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi notes in an overview article that Aghaee and team are careful to point out that their interferometer's tests "do not, by themselves" prove there are the necessary Majorana particles in the device. And Castelvecchi quotes one physicist, Steven Simon of the University of Oxford, UK, who says, "There's no slam dunk to know immediately from the experiment" that the qubits are made of topological states. Castelvecchi also notes: "Some researchers are critical of the company's [Microsoft's] choice to publicly announce the creation of a qubit without releasing detailed evidence." Castelvecchi, who has covered the quantum race for many years, notes that another Microsoft team made a similar claim in 2021 about topological qubits and had to retract it. Also: Google's Gemini 2.0 AI promises to be faster and smarter via agentic advances In fact, this week's announcement comes many years after Microsoft originally expected to demonstrate a topological qubit. In 2018, in Barron's magazine, Microsoft's quantum team told the paper that the company would have a topological qubit ready by the end of that year. In a sense, the Majorana 1 is seven years late. That's not a criticism so much as an example of how quantum in general, and Microsoft's quest, specifically, takes a lot more effort than people expect based on what's in a press release. Which brings us to the more important caveat: Majorana 1 is not a computer chip. It is a prototype of a computer chip. Also: What is sparsity? DeepSeek AI's secret, revealed by Apple researchers Another thing Microsoft told Barron's in 2018 is that a functional quantum computer was only five years away. That prediction turned out to be too optimistic. The Microsoft press piece about the recent achievement states, "Today, the company has placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to scale to one million." It's important to note you need the full million to do any real computation. Microsoft insists the million target will be reached "within years, not decades," but it's unclear how. The arXiv paper has lots of interesting information about expanding the Majorana chip from one qubit to multiple qubits, but it does not make any predictions about time frames. Who's to say Microsoft won't produce a scaled-up Majorana in the coming years? If Microsoft's claims, so far, can be rapidly extended and validated, then there's reason to hope progress will be swift in scaling. However, without an explicit device roadmap or time frame, Microsoft has the same challenge Google has with the "Willow" quantum chip it unveiled in December: to prove it can be taken from qubit science into a working computer.

New state of matter powers Microsoft quantum computing chip

Majorana 1 relies on 'topological superconductivity,' a never-before-seen theoretical form of matter. Microsoft says its researchers have created a new quantum computer processor that relies on a never-before-seen state of matter. The technological leap -- called Majorana 1 -- represents a major step forward towards an era of powerful quantum computers that unlock currently unachievable advancements across artificial intelligence, medical research, sustainable energy, and many other industries. Since their invention, traditional computers have almost always relied on semiconductor chips that use binary "bits" of information represented as strings of 1's and 0's. While these chips have become increasingly powerful and simultaneously smaller, there is a physical limit to the amount of information that can be stored on this hardware. Quantum computers, by comparison, utilize "qubits" (quantum bits) to exploit the strange properties exhibited by subatomic particles, often at extremely cold temperatures. Two qubits can hold four values at any given time, with more qubits translating to an exponential increase in calculating capabilities. This allows a quantum computer to process information at speeds and scales that make today's supercomputers seem almost antiquated. Last December, for example, Google unveiled an experimental quantum computer system that researchers say takes just five minutes to finish a calculation that would take most supercomputers over 10 septillion years to complete -- longer than the age of the universe as we understand it. But Google's Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) is based on different technology than Microsoft's Majorana 1 design, detailed in a paper published on February 19 in the journal Nature. The result of over 17 years of design and research, Majorana 1 relies on what the company calls "topological qubits" through the creation of topological superconductivity, a state of matter previously conceptualized but never documented. Instead of a traditional computer's reliance on electrons, Majorana 1 works on the "world's first topoconductor," using the Majorana particle first described in 1937 by theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana. According to Microsoft, the machine is based on "gate-defined devices" combining the semiconductor indium arsenide with aluminum, a superconductor. Once the topoconductor's temperature is lowered to near absolute zero (about -400 degrees Fahrenheit) and tuned to magnetic fields, the devices "form topological superconducting nanowires with Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at the wires' ends." Majorana 1 is reportedly more reliable than competitor Quantum Processing Unit designs, but it still exhibits a problem that plagues all experimental quantum computing chips. Just as it's illustrated in quantum particle physics, qubits may be able to hold two states of information at the same time,but when human operators attempt to read them, the information "decoheres" into a basic 1 or 0. Microsoft researchers, however, are pinning their hopes that further fine-tuning will yield more reliable and scalable topoconductors that ultimately form the basis of the first true quantum computers. Majorana 1 currently holds just eight qubits, which doesn't set it apart from existing QPU prototypes. But it's built to house many more: 1 million qubits, to be more exact. "A million-qubit quantum computer isn't just a milestone -- it's a gateway to solving some of the world's most difficult problems," Chetan Nayak, Microsoft's Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President of Quantum Hardware, said on Wednesday.

Microsoft Majorana 1 chip promises real quantum computing within years, not decades

Forward-looking: Microsoft has unveiled a new quantum chip called "Majorana 1" that claims will make scaled, real-world quantum computing a reality in just years rather than decades. It's palm-sized and has a delightfully retro look yet Microsoft claims it will eventually pack more theoretical computing power than all the world's current classical computers combined. The Majorana 1 comes after nearly two decades of research. The big claims come thanks to Microsoft's unique approach to the quantum problem. Scientists at the company have engineered a first-of-its-kind "topoconductor" material that they say exploits an exotic "topological" state of matter, bridging the gap between quantum physics and practical engineering. Microsoft adds that this topological state enables smaller, faster, and more stable quantum bits (qubits). In fact, the company is so confident in the technology that it claims topoconductors and the new type of chip they enable provide a clear roadmap to scaling up to over one million qubits on a single chip - a key threshold for quantum supremacy over classical computers for real-world applications. Microsoft also suggests that as semiconductor transistors revolutionized classical computing and microelectronics, these new topological qubit materials could kickstart an entire quantum industry. Microsoft envisions its new invention enabling major advancements such as breaking down microplastics, designing self-healing construction materials, boosting soil fertility, and turbocharging AI to model and optimize every aspect of manufacturing, medicine, and more. "Any company that makes anything could just design it perfectly the first time out," boasts Matthias Troyer, a Microsoft technical fellow. "The quantum computer teaches the AI the language of nature so the AI can just tell you the recipe for what you want to make." It all sounds too good to be true, so the BBC decided to conduct a reality check and get some expert perspectives. Some have cautioned that key challenges remain before the new approach can be considered a breakthrough success. "Until the next steps have been achieved, it is too soon to be anything more than cautiously optimistic," stated quantum expert Professor Paul Stevenson of the University of Surrey. The opinions weren't all cynical, though. Professor Chris Heunen, a quantum programming expert at the University of Edinburgh, says that Microsoft's roadmap is credible, and the next few years will show if this exciting vision pans out. Microsoft isn't alone in its pursuit of true quantum supremacy. Rivals like Google have produced a steady stream of announcements over the past few years - notably unveiling its "Willow" chip late last year. However, Microsoft is seemingly taking longer with its "topological approach," which the company has described in its own words as a "high-risk, high-reward" strategy.

Microsoft creates chip it says shows quantum computers are 'years, not decades' away

(Reuters) - Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a new chip that it said showed quantum computing is "years, not decades" away, joining Google and IBM in predicting that a fundamental change in computing technology is much closer than recently believed. Quantum computing holds the promise of carrying out calculations that would take today's systems millions of years and could unlock discoveries in medicine, chemistry and many other fields where near-infinite seas of possible combinations of molecules confound classical computers. Quantum computers also hold the danger of upending today's cybersecurity systems, where most encryption relies on the assumption that it would take too long to brute force gain access. The biggest challenge of quantum computers is that a fundamental building block called a qubit, which is similar to a bit in classical computing, is incredibly fast but also extremely difficult to control and prone to errors. Microsoft said the Majorana 1 chip it has developed is less prone to those errors than rivals and provided as evidence a scientific paper set to be published in academic journal Nature. When useful quantum computers will arrive has become a topic of debate in the upper echelons of the tech industry. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that the technology was two decades away from overtaking his company's chips, the workhorses of artificial intelligence, reflecting broad skepticism. Those remarks prompted Google, which last year showed off its own new quantum chip, to say that commercial quantum computing applications are only five years away. IBM has said large-scale quantum computers will be online by 2033. Microsoft's Majorana 1 has been in the works for nearly two decades and relies on a subatomic particle called the Majorana fermion whose existence was first theorized in the 1930s. That particle has properties that make it less prone to the errors that plague quantum computers, but it has been hard for physicists to find and control. Microsoft said it created the Majorana 1 chip with indium arsenide and aluminum. The device uses a superconducting nanowire to observe the particles and can be controlled with standard computing equipment. The chip Microsoft revealed Wednesday has far fewer qubits than rival chips from Google and IBM, but Microsoft believes that far fewer of its Majorana-based qubits will be needed to make useful computers because the error rates are lower. Microsoft did not give a timeline for when the chip would be scaled up to create quantum computers that can outstrip today's machines, but the company said in a blog post that point was "years, not decades" away. Jason Zander, the Microsoft executive vice president who oversees the company's long-term strategic bets, described Majorana 1 as a "high risk, high reward" strategy. The chip was fabricated at Microsoft labs in Washington state and Denmark. "The hardest part has been solving the physics. There is no textbook for this, and we had to invent it," Zander said in an interview with Reuters. "We literally have invented the ability to go create this thing, atom by atom, layer by layer." Philip Kim, a professor of physics at Harvard University who was not involved in Microsoft's research, said that Majorana fermions have been a hot topic among physicists for decades and called Microsoft's work an "exciting development" that put the company at the forefront of quantum research. He also said that Microsoft's use of a hybrid between traditional semiconductors and exotic superconductors appeared to be a good route toward chips that can be scaled up into more powerful chips. "Although there's no demonstration (of this scaling up) yet, what they are doing is really successful," Kim said. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jamie Freed)