Microsoft has unveiled a new chip called Majorana 1 that it says will enable the creation of quantum computers able to solve “meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades”.<\/p>\n
It is the latest development in quantum computing – tech which uses principles of particle physics to create a new type of computer able to solve problems ordinary computers cannot.<\/p>\n
Creating quantum computers powerful enough to solve important real-world problems is very challenging – and some experts believe them to be decades away.<\/p>\n
Microsoft says this timetable can now be sped up because of the “transformative” progress it has made in developing the new chip involving a “topological conductor”, based on a new material it has produced.<\/p>\n
The firm believes its topoconductor has the potential to be as revolutionary as the semiconductor was in the history of computing.<\/p>\n
But experts have told the BBC more data is needed before the significance of the new research – and its effect on quantum computing – can be fully assessed.<\/p>\n
Jensen Huang – boss of the leading chip firm, Nvidia – said in January he believed “very useful” quantum computing would come in 20 years.<\/p>\n
Chetan Nayak, a technical fellow of quantum hardware at Microsoft, said he believed the developments would shake up conventional thinking about the future of quantum computers.<\/p>\n
“Many people have said that quantum computing, that is to say useful quantum computers, are decades away,” he said. “I think that this brings us into years rather than decades.”<\/p>\n
Travis Humble, director of the Quantum Science Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, said he agreed Microsoft would now be able to deliver prototypes faster – but warned there remained work to do.<\/p>\n
“The long term goals for solving industrial applications on quantum computers will require scaling up these prototypes even further,” he said.<\/p>\n
Quantum computing holds the promise of carrying out calculations that would take today’s systems millions of years and could unlock discoveries in medicine, chemistry and many other fields.<\/p>\n
There are numerous important problems that “classical” computers, of the sort we use every day in our phones, and laptops and power most modern applications, cannot solve.<\/p>\n
But these are problems quantum machines might be able to rapidly crack, promising new discoveries by creating new medicines or designing better batteries.<\/p>\n
A host of technology firms, including the silicon valley giants, are currently engaged in a multi-billion dollar race to develop a quantum computer powerful enough to solve these problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Microsoft is approaching the problem differently to most of its rivals.<\/p>\n
Its path to building a quantum computer relied upon being able to\u00a0c<\/b>reate a “topoconductor” or topological conductor.<\/p>\n
It uses the newly developed material to create a new state of matter- a so-called “topological state” which isn’t a gas, liquid or solid and, until relatively recently, had existed only in theory.<\/p>\n
Specifically, it relies on so-called Majorana particles, which themselves were previously considered theoretical – work claiming that they had been discovered in 2018 had to\u00a0be retracted<\/a>.<\/p>\n