Microsoft’s Majorana 2 Quantum Chip
BBC Business reported Tuesday that Microsoft has unveiled a quantum chip it says is one thousand times more reliable than its previous version, setting an ambitious target of delivering a commercially useful quantum computer by 2029.
A Massive Leap in Qubit Stability
The new device, called Majorana 2, sits at the center of Microsoft’s quantum push. Qubits are the fundamental units of quantum computing. They are famously fragile and prone to failure within fractions of a second. On Majorana 2, qubits now survive for roughly 20 seconds on average. The previous chip managed only milliseconds. Microsoft likened that difference to upgrading from a phone that needs daily charging to one lasting several years between charges.
Zulfi Alam, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Quantum, told the BBC the firm expects “a quantum machine in 2029 that can solve commercially viable, reasonable problems.” He noted the current chip carries just 12 qubits, while a truly useful device would require millions.
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Two Decades of Controversial Research
Microsoft has pursued a topological approach to quantum computing for roughly 20 years. The strategy exploits properties of a quasi-particle first theorized in the 1930s by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana. Realizing it required engineering an entirely novel state of matter beyond the familiar solid, liquid, and gas.
The path has not been smooth. Microsoft retracted a 2018 Nature paper after it overstated evidence for the Majorana particle. The first-generation Majorana chip arrived in 2025 but attracted sharp skepticism. One physicist at the University of St Andrews told the BBC at the time that Microsoft’s work had “moved firmly away from science and entered the realm of faith.”
Jason Zander, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Quantum and Discovery, pushed back on those doubts Tuesday, urging critics to examine the published papers and engage with researchers who have reviewed the full data.
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What Success Could Unlock
The Majorana 2 improvement came partly from swapping aluminum for lead as the chip’s superconducting material, a change driven by human researchers rather than AI tools. Microsoft is using AI to accelerate further development, but Zander credited scientists for the key materials insight.
A functioning quantum computer at scale could, the company argues, tackle problems such as eliminating microplastics or designing more efficient agricultural fertilizers. Problems that might otherwise take decades to crack could become tractable within years.
Independent physicists who spoke to the BBC called Microsoft’s timeline plausible if the underlying science holds up, though they noted the latest paper has not yet undergone peer review. Microsoft says it has shared all data, including commercially sensitive material, with DARPA as part of a US defense agency program to validate its quantum computing concept.
