Microsoft is claiming to have created a topological qubit—something engineers have been trying to achieve for years.

The processor uses qubits that can be measured without error and are resistant to outside interference, which the company says marks a “transformative leap toward practical quantum computing.”

Microsoft says it has developed a breakthrough quantum processor based on a new state of matter, giving it a clear path to achieve quantum computing’s long-term promise of solving some of the world’s most difficult problems.

There isn't yet a roadmap to show Microsoft can scale its chip to the million topological qubits required to make a working quantum computer.

Microsoft team behind the recent breakthrough in physics and quantum computing demonstrated by the new Majorana 1 chip, engineered from an entirely new

Microsoft’s new “topological qubit” is not based on a solid, liquid or gas. It is another phase of matter that many experts did not think was possible.

Microsoft has long been working on an alternative that could cut down on the overhead by using components that are far more stable. These components, called Majorana quasiparticles, are not real particles. Instead, they are special patterns of behavior that may arise inside certain physical systems and under certain conditions.

Quantum computing stocks were all the rage in 2024 with shares of some of the most popular companies rising 1,000% or more. But they crashed pretty hard in January after Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said quantum computing was still two decades away from viability and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg chimed in a

Microsoft team led by UC Santa Barbara physicists unveils first-of-its-kind topological qubit, paving the way for a more fault-tolerant quantum computer

Microsoft has announced a significant breakthrough in quantum computing: the creation of the first "topological qubits." Unlike conventional quantum bits, these qubits store information using an exotic state of matter.