Microsoft says its Majorana 1 contains eight topological qubits and can scale to a million, though the details on how it will scale are scant. Microsoft Quantum
Microsoft's quantum computing scientists announced they have finally realized a long-held goal of building a "topological qubit", the equivalent of a transistor for ordinary chips, that may help advance quantum computing.
The qubit is the functional element of a quantum chip, called Majorana 1, based on an exotic particle, a hybrid of matter and anti-matter discovered in the past 20 years.
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"Majorana 1 marks a transformative leap toward practical quantum computing," states Microsoft in the blog post by Chetan Nayak, head of quantum hardware.
However, the caveats suggest you should take Microsoft's breakthrough with a big grain of salt.
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For one thing, there's skepticism about the veracity of Microsoft's claims, even with a highly technical report in this week's Nature Magazine by Microsoft's quantum researchers.
In addition, the Majorana 1 is not even a beta product as far as computing goes, maybe not even alpha. It cannot do any useful work until it somehow is extended with many more qubits, known in technical terms as "scaling" the device.
The topological qubit is unlike other quantum devices because of the way it leverages a particular breakthrough in materials science.
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