Microsoft reveals Majorana 1 quantum chip as quantum computing wars heat up

Yahoo Finance ^ | 02/21/2025 | Daniel Howley · Technology Editor

[SeekAndFind]

Microsoft (MSFT) on Wednesday announced a new kind of quantum computer chip that it says will make quantum computers useful in years, rather than decades in the future. The chip, called Majorana 1, uses what Microsoft says is a new type of material called a topoconductor, which the company claims takes advantage of a new state of matter that is not solid, liquid, or gas, but a topological state.

The upshot is that Microsoft says its approach will help lead to chips that can perform complex tasks needed to research topics including material sciences and healthcare.

Quantum computers are specialized machines that can handle calculations that would take classic computers, like the smartphone or laptop you're reading this on, hundreds or even thousands of years to complete.

They do this by using what are called qubits. Qubits are similar to the bits used in standard computers, represented as 0s and 1s, that chips translate into the programs we use each day. But thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics, qubits can exist as both 0 and 1 at the same time.

Microsoft's advancement comes a little more than two months after Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced its own quantum computing chip called Willow. According to Google, Willow is important because it corrects errors in calculations that occur when quantum computers use an increased number of qubits, a problem that has vexed researchers for years.

While the Microsoft and Google announcements are impressive, they don't provide a clear picture as to when quantum computing will be useful in real-world applications.

Experts have a wide array of opinions on when quantum computers will reach a level of functionality that allows them to help scientists solve problems related to everything from chemistry to energy sciences.

[SeekAndFind]

In January, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said practical quantum computers were likely two decades away from becoming a reality.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, however, said during the World Governments Summit in Dubai that useful quantum computers are between five and 10 years away.

Beyond private companies like Microsoft and Google, the US and China are also pouring billions of dollars into quantum computing research as the world's two largest economies work to establish themselves as leaders in the space.

[RoosterRedux]

Bfl

[Right_Wing_Madman]

CEO Jensen Huang said practical quantum computers were likely two decades away from becoming a reality.

This sounds similar to predictions of cold fusion 50 years ago.

Promises are all I hear, not results.

I guess as long as investor money keeps rolling in, everyone's happy.

[Rockingham]

It took fifty years to go from laboratory demonstrations of rotary motion using electromagnetic force to the first commercial electric motor. Similarly, it took about fifty years to go from early mainframe computers to the now ubiquitous modern personal computer. And, as it happens, the first "cold fusion" electric generator is due to go on sale later this year, fifty years after the claims of Pons and Fleischman.

Why fifty years? That amounts to roughly two generations of young minds learning of possible new technologies and figuring out how to overcome the obstacles to their realization in practical devices.

[The Louiswu]

All I need to know is will this quantum stuff get me my German fart porn faster than I can get it now and if so HOW MUCH faster???

[SeekAndFind]

Maybe, maybe not, but it will have serious implications for cybersecurity for one. It will make stealing passwords significantly faster!