The breakthrough
Microsoft researchers say they created a chip that leverages a new state of matter that could underpin quantum computers more powerful than the world has ever seen. The chip employs a so-called topological superconductor—a material that isn’t a solid, liquid or gas—to produce building blocks that can be scaled up into a powerful quantum computer, Microsoft said.
The impact
The chip, called “Majorana 1,” so far is the product of a research effort and isn’t for sale. The Microsoft researchers outlined their breakthrough in a paper published in Nature, a leading scientific journal. It is hard to know how central it will be in the development of more powerful quantum computers, but Microsoft and tech peers like IBM and Google are investing heavily in building a practical quantum system.
