What is Majorana 1? Top 5 things to know about Microsoft’s quantum computing chip

Microsoft released Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum chip on Wednesday, February 19, with CEO Satya Nadella calling it an “entirely new state of matter, unlocked by a new class of materials, top conductors, that enable a fundamental leap in computing”.

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Top 5 things to know about new Microsoft Majorana:

1) Majorana Fermion particle

Majorana 1 relies on a subatomic particle called the Majorana fermion which was theorized as existing by scientist Ettore Majorana in 1937, a Bloomberg report quoted Jason Zander, a Microsoft executive vice president as saying. “It’s taken us nearly a hundred years to prove it. Now we can harness it,” he added.

2) What is Majorana 1 made of?

The Majorana 1 chip is made of a material made from indium arsenide and aluminum to create what the tech giant calls, the “world’s first topoconductor,” a new type of material that can observe band control the Majorana particles.

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3) What can Majorana 1 help humans do?

Just one single chip with a million qubits can perform accurate simulations which can help humans to improve the understanding of the natural world and unlock breakthroughs in medicine and material science, according to a report by The Verge.

4) Majorana 1’s accuracy far exceeds its competitors

Majorana’s chip has far fewer qubits than rival chips from Google and IBM, but Microsoft still believes that much fewer of its Majorana-based qubits will be needed to make useful computers since the error rates are lower.

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5) Majorana 1 gets big name takers already

The US Department of Defense has shown strong interest in the new technology, according to a report by news agency AFP, which added that Microsoft has been selected as one of just two companies to advance to the final phase of its quantum computing program.