Microsoft announced a significant advancement in quantum computing with the unveiling of its new Majorana 1 chip, asserting that the technology is “years, not decades” away from practical application. This announcement places Microsoft alongside Google and IBM, all of whom are predicting a faster timeline for the development of quantum computing than previously anticipated.
Quantum computing holds the potential to revolutionize various fields by performing calculations that are currently impossible for classical computers. Specific areas poised for significant breakthroughs include medicine, chemistry, and other domains involving complex molecular combinations. However, quantum computers also pose a potential risk to today’s cybersecurity systems, which rely on the computational difficulty of breaking encryption algorithms.
The core challenge in building quantum computers lies in controlling qubits, the fundamental building blocks that are analogous to bits in classical computing. Qubits are extremely fast but notoriously prone to errors. Microsoft claims that its Majorana 1 chip minimizes these errors, providing evidence through a scientific paper slated for publication in the journal Nature.
The timing for the arrival of useful quantum computers has become a subject of debate within the tech industry. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently expressed skepticism, estimating that quantum computing is two decades away from surpassing his company’s chips, the workhorses of artificial intelligence. This prompted Google to respond with a more optimistic outlook, suggesting that commercial quantum computing applications are only five years away. IBM has similarly projected that large-scale quantum computers will be operational by 2033.
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 has been in development for roughly two decades and leverages the properties of the Majorana fermion, a subatomic particle first theorized in the 1930s. This particle possesses characteristics that may reduce errors, a significant advantage in quantum computing. However, finding and controlling these fermions has proven difficult for physicists.
Microsoft stated that it created the Majorana 1 chip using indium arsenide and aluminum. The device incorporates a superconducting nanowire to observe the particles and is compatible with standard computing equipment.
While the chip revealed Wednesday has fewer qubits than competing chips from Google and IBM, Microsoft believes that fewer qubits are needed to build useful computers due to the Majorana-based qubits’ lower error rates. Microsoft did not specify a timeline for scaling up the chip for the creation of quantum computers that surpass current machines. However, the company’s blog post suggested that this milestone is “years, not decades” away.
Jason Zander, Microsoft’s executive vice president overseeing long-term strategic initiatives, described the Majorana 1 as a “high risk, high reward” strategy. The chip was fabricated in Microsoft’s labs in Washington state and Denmark. “The hardest part has been solving the physics. There is no textbook for this, and we had to invent it,” Zander told Reuters. “We literally have invented the ability to go create this thing, atom by atom, layer by layer.”
Philip Kim, a Harvard University physics professor not involved in Microsoft’s research, noted that Majorana fermions have been a focus for physicists for decades and called Microsoft’s work an “exciting development”. He also said that Microsoft’s approach, which combines classical semiconductors with exotic superconductors, appears to be a promising path toward chips that can be scaled to greater computational power. “Although there’s no demonstration of this scaling up yet, what they are doing is really successful,” Kim said.
