Microsoft has announced a major breakthrough in the development of quantum computers, claiming they could be available in a few years, not decades as previously thought.
The company has developed a chip called Majorana 1, which it says is comparable to the invention of semiconductors, which made modern smartphones, computers and electronics possible through miniaturization and increased computing power.
Image: Microsoft
The chip leverages the world’s first topoconductor, a breakthrough type of material which can observe and control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits, which are the building blocks for quantum computers.
In the same way that the invention of semiconductors made today’s smartphones, computers and electronics possible, 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.
This makes it possible to develop quantum systems that can fit on a single chip smaller than the palm of your hand, and to create more reliable devices, according to an article published in the journal Nature.
This could eventually lead to the creation of the most powerful computers based on quantum mechanics rather than classical physics, capable of solving extremely complex industrial and societal problems.
Among them:
- Breaking down microplastics into harmless compounds;
- Inventing self-healing materials for construction, manufacturing and healthcare;
- Optimizing logistics supply chains;
- Deciphering complex cryptographic codes.
Earlier this year, Google unveiled the Willow quantum chip, which is said to be capable of solving problems in five minutes, while the world's fastest supercomputer would take ten septillion years, or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.
