Hype around the Majorana 1 chip?Solved

Yeah, whenever I hear about this, my mind also pictures the new type of material they harnessed that supports topological superconductivity. The Majorana 1 chip is using topological qubits, right?

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/quantum/2025/02/19/microsoft-unveils-majorana-1-the-worlds-first-quantum-processor-powered-by-topological-qubits/

The way they settled millions of qubits in a single chip, that’s a whole different approach from the superconducting ones companies like IBM and Google are using. Where were the times when the invention of semiconductors, which paved the path to modern mobile phones and computers, has passed?

Microsoft’s betting big on this, but my question is, why now? They’ve been talking about Majorana particles for years, but suddenly they have a working chip?

Hold up, @mortimer . Microsoft didn’t just suddenly come up with this. They’ve been working on this since the early 2000s. It is something like a “hardware-protected” qubit, what I meant was, it’s way more stable than what we’ve got now. Every time we increase the number of qubits, the error rates go up exponentially, and most of our computing power is wasted just keeping the damn things stable.

The company has already fitted 8 topological qubits on a chip and claims that it can fit up to a million. Microsoft’s approach, if it works, basically builds the stability into the hardware itself. Less error correction is needed, which could mean scaling up to real quantum applications faster.

Yeah, but IBM (Heron) and Google (Willow) already have functional quantum computers, even if they’re noisy. Microsoft’s been theorizing for ages, and this is their first actual chip. Seems like they’re still catching up, no?

But there’s something else that caught my attention, some people on Reddit are debating whether this new Majorana-based state of matter is even real. A few physicists are questioning whether what Microsoft has demonstrated is actually a true topological phase, or if it’s just a complex way of stabilizing qubits that doesn’t fundamentally change quantum computing as we know it.

One Reddit thread even asked something interesting: if this really is a new state of matter, what would it actually feel like? We’re talking about particles that exist in a way we’ve never observed before—where information isn’t stored in a specific location but instead spread out in a way that makes it resistant to interference. That’s some sci-fi-level stuff.

I’ll link them below if you folks want to take a look:

https://www.reddit.com/r/quantum/comments/1iz75jd/what_would_the_new_microsoft_state_of_matter_feel/?rdt=55504

https://www.reddit.com/r/tech/comments/1itdp6r/microsoft_unveils_chip_it_says_could_bring/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1itxt2j/microsoft_deploys_new_state_of_matter_in_its/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1iwrr5t/new_state_of_matter_from_microsoft_majorana_1/

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1itckle/microsoft_says_it_has_created_a_new_state_of/

What would the new Microsoft state of matter feel like?
byu/NegotiationCalm8785 inquantum

True, but let’s not forget, current quantum computers require crazy amounts of error correction. If Microsoft can get their topological qubits to work as advertised, they’ll leapfrog the competition. Plus, the fact that this chip is designed to be small (like literally the size of my palm) and integrated with Azure Quantum… that’s massive. If topological qubits work as planned, we could be looking at commercial-scale quantum computing way sooner than expected.

Exactly! Imagine cloud-based quantum computing without the insane error rates we’re hearing now. If this works, Microsoft could dominate quantum computing and the cloud.

But that’s a big if, mate. They haven’t actually demonstrated a working quantum computer with this yet. For all we know, it could take years before Majorana 1 actually delivers something practical. If everything actually works out, I’ll be the first one standing in line to buy the time machine (if someone starts selling one).

Joke’s aside, it’s exciting to see Microsoft finally putting hardware behind their quantum ambitions. I’m still skeptical, but if Majorana 1 leads to fewer errors and easier scaling, I’ll be the first to say I was wrong. Let’s keep an eye on this.