Microsoft unveiled Majorana 2 on June 2 and said an AI-assisted redesign of its quantum chip led it to believe it can have commercially useful quantum machines by 2029.

That timeline broadly aligns with IBM, which said it aims to deliver a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing system called Starling by 2029.

Microsoft had not previously given a target year for the new chip, saying only that such systems were years away, not decades.

In the update, the company said Majorana 2 uses lead rather than aluminum, which is common in many quantum chips, and that the materials switch improved some performance measures 1,000x.

Outside physicists continue to question whether Microsoft has released enough data to verify its claims. Scrutiny also remains high after a corrected Microsoft-linked study rekindled debate over the company’s quantum research.

Microsoft said it shared data with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under confidentiality.

🔗 Source: Microsoft

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