Microsoft has launched its first quantum computing chip, named the Majorana 1, signaling its entry into an exhilarating new domain of computing. Following this announcement, Microsoft stock experienced an uptick.
With this launch, Microsoft officially joins the ranks of Alphabet’s Google, IBM, and others in the competitive pursuit of developing a commercially viable quantum computer.
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 Chip
In a blog post, Microsoft highlighted that the Majorana 1 is driven by an innovative Topological Core architecture that aims to pave a new way for quantum computing. “It leverages the world’s first topoconductor, a breakthrough type of material which can observe and control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits, which are the building blocks for quantum computers,” the company stated. Chetan Nayak, a technical fellow at Microsoft, expressed that his team aspired to create “the transistor for the quantum age.”
Read more: Microsoft introduces DeepSeek’s R1 to its cloud amid ongoing IP concerns with OpenAI
Microsoft stock performance
Moreover, on the stock market today, Microsoft stock rose 1.3 percent to close at 414.77. The novel architecture used to engineer the Majorana 1 processor presents a clear path to accommodate a million qubits on a single chip that can fit comfortably in the palm of one’s hand, according to Microsoft. Achieving a million qubits is regarded as the threshold for quantum computers to provide transformative, real-world solutions in fields such as materials science and medicine.
Currently, the company has positioned eight topological qubits on a chip designed to scale up to one million. Microsoft is optimistic that the million-qubit objective is now merely years away, not decades. The Majorana 1 further represents the culmination of two decades of research in the realm of quantum computing, as stated by the company.
