Microsoft has announced Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum chip built with a new Topological Core architecture. The company anticipates this innovation will lead to quantum computers capable of tackling significant, industrial-scale issues within years, rather than decades.
This breakthrough leverages a topoconductor, a novel material that can observe and control Majorana particles. This allows for the creation of more reliable and scalable qubits, which are the fundamental building blocks of quantum computers. Much like the invention of semiconductors that paved the way for modern electronics, topoconductors and this new type of chip open the door to quantum systems that can scale to a million qubits. These systems promise to address the world’s most complex industrial and societal challenges.
“We took a step back and asked, ‘OK, let’s invent the transistor for the quantum age. What properties does it need to have?'” said Chetan Nayak, a Microsoft technical fellow. “And that’s really how we got here – it’s the specific combination, the quality, and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture.”
The Majorana 1 processor’s new architecture offers a clear path to accommodating a million qubits on a chip small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand, according to Microsoft. This is a necessary threshold for quantum computers to provide transformative, real-world solutions. The potential applications include breaking down microplastics into harmless byproducts and developing self-healing materials for construction, manufacturing, and healthcare.
“Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits. If it doesn’t, you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us,” Nayak explained. “We have actually worked out a path to a million.”
A topoconductor, or topological superconductor, is a special type of material that can create a novel state of matter – neither solid, liquid, nor gas, but a topological state. This state is utilized to produce a more stable, fast, and compact qubit that can be digitally controlled, eliminating the tradeoffs of existing alternatives. A recent paper published in Nature details how Microsoft researchers successfully created and accurately measured the exotic quantum properties of the topological qubit, a crucial step for practical computing.
This breakthrough required the development of a completely new materials stack consisting of indium arsenide and aluminum, much of which Microsoft designed and fabricated at the atomic level. The goal was to generate new quantum particles, known as Majoranas, and utilize their unique properties to advance quantum computing, Microsoft stated.
The world’s first Topological Core powering the Majorana 1 incorporates error resistance at the hardware level, resulting in greater stability and reliability by design. Commercially viable applications will also require trillions of operations on one million qubits, a feat not possible with current approaches that rely on fine-tuned analog control of each qubit. Microsoft’s new measurement method enables digital control of qubits, redefining and greatly simplifying quantum computing.
This achievement validates Microsoft’s decision years ago to pursue a topological qubit design. This was a high-risk, high-potential scientific and engineering challenge that has now begun to yield results. Currently, the company has placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to scale to a million.
“From the start we wanted to make a quantum computer for commercial impact, not just thought leadership,” said Matthias Troyer, a Microsoft technical fellow.
This approach led to Microsoft’s inclusion in a program by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a federal agency that invests in innovative technologies critical to national security. The program evaluated whether innovative quantum computing technologies could build commercially relevant quantum systems faster than previously believed possible. Microsoft is now one of two companies invited to the final phase of DARPA’s Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program – part of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative – to develop the industry’s first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Transforming Industries with Quantum Computing
In addition to developing its own quantum hardware, Microsoft has partnered with Quantinuum and Atom Computing to achieve scientific and engineering breakthroughs with existing qubits. This includes last year’s announcement of the industry’s first reliable quantum computer. These machines offer significant opportunities for developing quantum skills, building hybrid applications, and fostering new discoveries, especially with the integration of AI with new quantum systems powered by a greater number of reliable qubits. Today, Azure Quantum provides a suite of integrated solutions that allow customers to leverage these leading AI, high-performance computing, and quantum platforms within Azure to accelerate scientific discovery.
However, for quantum computing to reach its full potential, a quantum architecture capable of providing a million or more qubits is required. Today’s announcement signifies that this horizon is within reach in years, not decades, Microsoft said.
Because they can use quantum mechanics to precisely map how nature works – from molecular interactions to enzyme energies – million-qubit machines could solve problems in chemistry and materials science that are currently impossible for classical computers. For instance, they could address the complex chemistry of why materials corrode or crack, potentially leading to self-healing materials for products like bridges, airplane parts, and phone screens.
Quantum computing could also assist in addressing environmental concerns. Because of the many types of plastics, a single catalyst cannot typically break them down. Quantum computing could be used to calculate the properties of catalysts, allowing them to break down pollutants or develop non-toxic alternatives. It could also be used more effectively to harness enzymes for healthcare and agriculture. This could lead to breakthroughs in helping eradicate global hunger by boosting soil fertility and improving the growth of foods in harsh climates.
Primarily, quantum computing has the potential for engineers, scientists, and companies to design things correctly the first time, which would revolutionize everything from healthcare to product development.
“Any company that makes anything could just design it perfectly the first time out. It would just give you the answer,” Troyer explained. ““The quantum computer teaches the AI the language of nature so the AI can just tell you the recipe for what you want to make.”
Rethinking Quantum Computing at Scale
The quantum world operates according to quantum mechanics, which differ from the laws of physics that govern the world we perceive. Quantum particles are called qubits, or quantum bits, and they are similar to the bits (ones and zeros) that computers use today. Qubits are fragile and susceptible to environmental disturbances that can cause them to break down and lose information. Their state can also be affected by measurement, which is essential for computing.
An essential challenge is the development of a stable qubit that can be measured and controlled while protecting it from environmental noise. Qubits can be created in various ways, each with advantages and disadvantages. Microsoft decided almost 20 years ago to take a unique approach: developing topological qubits, which they believed would offer more stable qubits, lessening the need for error correction, and providing advantages in speed, size, and controllability.
This approach presented a steep learning curve, necessitating unprecedented scientific and engineering breakthroughs, but also offered the most promising path to creating scalable and controllable qubits capable of commercially valuable work. An obstacle was that the particles Microsoft hoped to use, called Majoranas, had never been observed or created until recently.
The Nature paper confirms that Microsoft has successfully created Majorana particles, which help protect quantum information from random disturbance. Furthermore, they can reliably measure the information using microwaves. Majoranas protect quantum information making it more robust, but also more difficult to measure. The measurement approach developed by the Microsoft team is so precise that it can detect the difference between one billion and one billion and one electrons in a superconducting wire. This allows the computer to determine the qubit’s state, and this information forms the basis for quantum computation.
These measurements are controlled by voltage pulses, similar to a light switch, instead of finetuning each individual qubit. This easier measurement approach, which enables digital control, simplifies the quantum computing process and the physical requirements to build a scalable machine. Because of its size, Microsoft’s topological qubit also has an advantage over other qubits. A too-small qubit is challenging operate control lines for, but a too-big qubit requires a large machine, Troyer noted. The individual control technology for these types of qubits would require building an impractical computer the size of an airplane hangar or football field.
Majorana 1, Microsoft’s quantum chip, contains the qubits and surrounding control electronics, and can be held in the palm of your hand. It can fit inside a quantum computer that can easily be deployed within Azure datacenters.
“It’s one thing to discover a new state of matter,” added Nayak. “It’s another to take advantage of it to rethink quantum computing at scale.”
Designing Quantum Materials Atom by Atom
Microsoft’s topological qubit architecture has aluminum nanowires joined to form an “H.” Each “H” has four controllable Majoranas and forms one qubit. These Hs can connect and be laid out across the chip like tiles.
“It’s complex in that we had to show a new state of matter to get there, but after that, it’s fairly simple. It tiles out. You have this much simpler architecture that promises a much faster path to scale,” said Krysta Svore, Microsoft technical fellow.
The quantum chip requires an ecosystem with control logic, a dilution refrigerator to maintain qubit temperatures colder than outer space, and a software stack that integrates with AI and classical computers. According to Svore, all of these components either exist or have been modified in-house.
More years of engineering will be needed to refine these processes and get all the elements to work together at an accelerated scale. Microsoft indicated that many challenging scientific and engineering obstacles have been conquered. Getting the materials stack right to produce a topological state of matter was one of the most difficult phases.
Rather than silicon, Microsoft’s topoconductor is made of indium arsenide, which is currently used in applications such as infrared detectors, and has unique properties. Extremely cold temperatures allow the semiconductor to bond to the superconductivity. “We are literally spraying atom by atom. Those materials have to line up perfectly. If there are too many defects in the material stack, it just kills your qubit,” Svore explained. “Ironically, it’s also why we need a quantum computer – because understanding these materials is incredibly hard. With a scaled quantum computer, we will be able to predict materials with even better properties for building the next generation of quantum computers beyond scale,” she said.
