Arthur McMiler
Microsoft has developed a new quantum processing unit, or QPU, to advance its efforts to prototype utility-scale quantum computers. Called Majorana 1, the QPU brings a fault-tolerant quantum computing prototype much closer, Chetan Nayak, technical fellow and corporate vice president of quantum hardware at Microsoft, said in a blog Wednesday.
Harnessing New Materials
According to Nayak, Majorana 1 is based on a hardware-protected topological qubit engineered from new materials for a digitally controlled fast performance and lesser errors than other qubits. He said the QPU builds upon Microsoft’s recent breakthrough on harnessing a class of materials for topological superconductivity, a state of matter held only as theoretical previously.
“The advance stems from Microsoft’s innovations in the design and fabrication of gate-defined devices that combine indium arsenide (a semiconductor) and aluminum (a superconductor),” Nayak explained in his blog.
Quantum Computing Milestones
He further noted that Majorana 1 demonstrates the world’s first topological cubit, a new milestone in Microsoft’s quantum supercomputer roadmap. In November, the company and its partner Atom Computing announced a world record in creating and combining 24 logical cubits developed from neutral atoms. The partners also demonstrated the capability to detect and correct errors and perform computations on 28 logical qubits.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Microsoft and PsiQuantum in December 2023 for the final phase of its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer prototype. In early February, DARPA said it will work with Microsoft and PsiQuantum in the validation and co-design stage of the companies’ concepts on a utility-scale quantum supercomputer.
PsiQuantum announced in July its plan to build the first U.S.-based utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Chicago, with the city government, Cook County and the state of Illinois as its partners.
