Microsoft Debuts Its First Quantum Computing Chip, Majorana 1

Key Takeaways

Microsoft ( MSFT ) on Wednesday announced its first quantum computing chip, Majorana 1, and said it could significantly reduce the time needed to reach quantum computing at a larger scale.

The Majorana 1 chip contains eight "qubits," or quantum bits, with the potential to scale to 1 million qubits, which the tech giant said would create a computer more powerful than every existing binary computer in the world working together.

Rivals like Alphabet's ( GOOGL ) Google and some other tech companies are also working on their own designs for quantum computing chips. However, some chipmakers, like Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang, have previously cautioned it could still be years before there are "very useful quantum computers."

Google debuted its own chip , called Willow, in December, the second in the company's six stated milestones in its quantum computing roadmap.

Shares of Microsoft rose just over 1% to close at $414.77 Wednesday. They've gained about 3% over the past 12 months.

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