Microsoft reveals its first quantum computing chip, the Majorana 1
Microsoft on Wednesday announced Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip.
Microsoft on Wednesday announced Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip.
The achievement comes after the company has spent nearly two decades of research in the field.
Technologists believe quantum computers could one day efficiently solve problems that would be taxing if not impossible for classical computers. Today’s computers use bits that can be either on or off while quantum computers employ quantum bits, or qubits, that can operate in both states simultaneously.
Google and IBM have also developed quantum processors, as have smaller companies IonQ and Rigetti Computing. Microsoft’s quantum chip employs eight topological qubits using indium arsenide, which is a semiconductor, and aluminum, which is a superconductor. A new paper in the journal Nature describes the chip in detail.
Microsoft won’t be allowing clients to use its Majorana 1 chip through the company’s Azure public cloud, as it plans to do with its custom artificial intelligence chip, Maia 100. Instead, Majorana 1 is a step toward a goal of a million qubits on a chip, following extensive physics research.
Rating: 5