Microsoft creates new chip powered by a new state of matter
Innovations in the world of technology are constantly emerging. One can’t help but get caught unaware of things to come because they happen fast. The best thing to do is to be always on the lookout for what is new because just when you thought that technology is at its peak, there is more to come. After all, acquiring knowledge about the progress in technology is a continuing process.
Microsoft announced on Feb 21, 2025 a breakthrough that could lead to the most powerful quantum computers of all time. They created a new chip, called “Majorana 1,” which is powered by a new state of matter called a topological state. This phase of matter is not characterized by the traditional physical properties that define a solid, liquid or gas. Instead, it’s defined by its topological properties — how the material’s wavefunctions behave and connect across space.
This topological state is created by the chip’s topoconductor, a first-of-its-kind material that produces fundamental units of information that serve as the building blocks for quantum computers. To achieve this topological state, the researchers had to build the chip using an entirely new combination of materials: indium arsenide and aluminum. Microsoft says Majorana 1 will pave the way for quantum computers that can solve “meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.”
Such issues would include everything from how to combat pollution to developing life-saving medications. Quantum computers powered by Majorana 1 would be significantly more powerful than today’s most sophisticated supercomputers, Microsoft claimed. While regular computers process information as ones and zeros, quantum computers process information through the properties of atomic particles, which are measured in qubits.
Quantum computers could easily solve problems that would take today’s most powerful supercomputers thousands of years to address. But researchers have yet to bring the full potential of quantum computing to fruition.
Although quantum computers do currently exist, they’re not very powerful because they operate on a very small scale, and scaling them up has proved challenging.
The Majorana 1 could fix that because this chip produces qubits that are more reliable and scalable than those produced by existing quantum computer chips, Microsoft claims. “Topoconductors and the new type of chip they enable offer a path to developing quantum systems that can scale to a million qubits and are capable of tackling the most complex industrial and societal problems,” Microsoft said.
The chip itself fits in the palm of your hand, but could one day process and contain an unprecedented amount of information. “Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits,” said Microsoft technical fellow Chetan Nayak. He added: “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. We have actually worked out a path to a million.”
