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Majorana 1 debuts groundbreaking topological architecture that promises to revolutionize entire industries with stable, controllable qubits
Microsoft has announced an unprecedented milestone in the race for quantum computing: the development of Majorana 1, the first quantum chip based on Majorana particles and powered by a Topological Core architecture. The news was presented alongside a peer-reviewed scientific publication by Nature, validating the results obtained.
Unlike previous approaches that rely on fragile, fault-prone qubits, Microsoft's new chip represents a paradigm shift. It is powered by world's first topoconductor – a type of topological superconductor that can control Majorana particles to build more stable, scalable, and digitally operable qubits.
According to the company, this innovation could accelerate the arrival of quantum computers with a million qubits, capable of solving problems considered impossible for classical machines – and this in years, not decades.
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What are Majorana particles and why are they important?
As Majorana particles, theorized by physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, are exotic quantum entities that are their own antiparticles. Although they have never been observed in nature in a stable form, scientists have been able to induce their existence under highly controlled conditions, combining superconductivity and magnetic fields.
Microsoft's breakthrough lies in having managed not only to create and control these particles, but to integrate them into a functional quantum chip, measuring their behavior with extreme precision. This was possible thanks to a new stack of materials built atom by atom, combining indium arsenide with aluminum and other nanoscopic structures.
The result is a topological qubit with fault resistance built into the hardware design itself — a colossal leap forward from current qubits, which require constant error correction and delicate analog control.
A quantum chip designed to scale up to 1 million qubits
For Microsoft, any serious attempt at quantum computing needs to have a realistic path to scale to a million qubits. Only then will it be possible to tackle the complex problems involving chemistry, physics, biology, climate and advanced materials.
The architecture used in the Majorana 1 quantum chip allows not only the stacking of thousands of qubits on a single chip, but also their digital control — something that drastically reduces the complexity of operation. Qubits can be activated or deactivated by simple electrical impulses, similar to light switches, eliminating the need for individual adjustments for each unit.
In addition, your compact design allows the chip to fit in the palm of your hand, making it suitable for integration into Azure datacenters, Microsoft's cloud platform. This is a huge advantage compared to current architectures, which require huge and expensive systems to maintain the stability of qubits.
A quantum computer that solves what classical computers cannot
According to Microsoft, the new generation of quantum computers could solve industrial, scientific and environmental problems that are insurmountable today. Some examples include:
- Decompose microplastics in harmless or recyclable materials;
- Create self-repairing materials for civil construction, health and industry;
- Develop custom catalysts to speed up chemical reactions;
- Explore agricultural enzymes to increase soil fertility and combat hunger;
- Design new chemical compounds and medicines with atomic precision;
- Dramatically reduce product development time and cost.
Furthermore, the combination of quantum computing and artificial intelligence will allow researchers to describe problems in natural language and receive exact solutions, designed qubit by qubit.
Topoconductors: the “transistor” of the quantum chip era
Chetan Nayak, a technical fellow at Microsoft, compared topoconductors to the semiconductor revolution of the last century. Just as transistors enabled the digital age, these new quantum materials could usher in an era in which computers are designed to solve previously impossible problems with speed, precision and reliability.
The topoconductor created by the company is not a solid, liquid or gas — but rather a topological state of matter, where the information is protected from external disturbances. This feature is essential to keep the qubits operating long enough to perform trillions of operations.
Microsoft advances partnership with DARPA
Microsoft's quantum project has caught the attention of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), one of the most influential research and security agencies in the United States. The company was selected for the final phase of the program US2QC, which seeks to develop a utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Second Matthias Troyer, another senior researcher at Microsoft, the goal from the beginning was to build a computer with commercial impact, not just conceptual impact. The company is also collaborating with partners such as Quantinuum and Atom Computing, advancing qubits of different types while finalizing the next generation of machines with its own architecture.
The development of Majorana 1 required materials engineering at the limit of precision. Each layer of the stack was designed to minimize defects that could compromise quantum stability. According to Krysta Svore, a member of Microsoft’s technical team, any imperfection could destroy the qubit.
“We’re literally pulverizing materials atom by atom. These materials need to align perfectly,” Svore explained. “Ironically, this is why we need a quantum computer — to understand and predict these same materials more accurately.”
The near future: commercial-scale quantum computing
Microsoft says that with this new chip, it is closer to its dream of creating a practical, scalable, reliable quantum computer that integrates artificial intelligence and classical computing. Instead of a distant horizon of 20 or 30 years, the company is working with implementation goals within a few years.
The idea is that any person or company, in the near future, will be able to access this computing power via the cloud, through Azure Quantum — which would democratize the use of qubits in real-world applications, from materials science to global sustainable development.
Source: Microsoft Official Blog
