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Majorana topological qubitsMicrosoft Quantum—
Majorana topological qubits
Courtesy of John Brecher for Microsoft · Press kit, editorial use (opens news.microsoft.com)

Majorana topological qubits

by Microsoft QuantumUS

ResearchStage 1 of 5

Majorana 2 announced June 2026. Whether the qubits are truly topological is still debated.

Updated 2 Jun 2026Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · Fault-tolerant prototype
  1. Station Q founded2005Complete.
  2. 2018 Nature Majorana paper retractedMar 2021Complete.
  3. Topological gap protocol resultsJun 2023Complete.
  4. Majorana 1 and Nature parity measurement paper19 Feb 2025Complete.
  5. Majorana 2 presented at BuildJun 2026Complete.
  6. Fault-tolerant prototypeTarget 2029Not yet reached.

Most important updates

  • 2 Jun 2026
  • Mar 2025
  • 19 Feb 2025
  • 6 Feb 2025

Upcoming

  1. 2029Fault-tolerant prototype (next)

Current obstacles

  • Proof of topological protectionCritics say the data can't yet tell real Majorana states from ordinary ones. Full qubit operations still need to be shown.

Physics limits

  • Protection needs near-perfect materialsTopological protection holds only if the superconducting gap is large and disorder tiny. Small impurities in the wires create ordinary states that mimic Majorana signatures, which is why results are debated.
  • Majoranas alone can't do every gateMeasuring and braiding Majoranas yields only a restricted set of operations. Universal computing needs extra 'magic states', made with conventional, error-prone methods and then purified.
  • Stray electrons flip the qubitA single unpaired electron entering the wire flips its parity, the stored value. Such events must be very rare; Microsoft has reported parity lifetimes of around a millisecond.

How it works

4 parts
Majorana 1 up close: the quantum chip (ringed in blue) sits beside a second chip, both wire-bonded onto a gold-plated mount
Majorana 1 up close: the quantum chip (ringed in blue) sits beside a second chip, both wire-bonded onto a gold-plated mountCourtesy of Microsoft · Press kit, editorial use (opens news.microsoft.com)
Wire

Topoconductor nanowires

An indium arsenide wire coated with aluminium becomes superconducting near absolute zero; in a magnetic field, Majorana states should form at its ends.

Qubit

Tetron

Two wires joined in an H shape hold four Majoranas. The qubit is whether the number of electrons is even or odd, spread across the wires.

Readout

Quantum-dot sensor

A nearby quantum dot's capacitance changes with that parity, which microwave reflection reads in about a microsecond.

Control

Digital, by measurement

Operations are done by switching measurements on and off with voltage pulses, instead of finely shaped analog pulses.

Update log

4 updates

Tue 2 Jun

  • Minor: BlogHardware

Mar 2025

  • Minor: PressResearch

Wed 19 Feb 2025

  • Major: BlogHardware

Thu 6 Feb 2025

  • Minor: RegulatorOther

About Microsoft Quantum

The team behind Majorana topological qubits

Microsoft Quantum

Topological qubits, Majorana chips, Azure Quantum

Microsoft is betting on topological qubits built from Majorana states in tiny superconducting wires, which in theory resist noise. It unveiled Majorana 1 in February 2025, a claim many physicists see as unproven. It also works with Quantinuum and Atom Computing.

  • Majorana 1 (Feb 2025) is billed as an 8-qubit topological chip. Outside experts dispute that topological qubits were shown.
  • Presented Majorana 2 at Build in June 2026, reporting much longer qubit lifetimes.
  • In the final phase of DARPA's US2QC programme.

quantum.microsoft.com (opens quantum.microsoft.com)Company profile →

Founded
200521 yrs
Headquarters
United States
Status
Subsidiaryof Microsoft
Valuation
Microsoft-owned
Works in
QuantumTopological
Coverage
1 program · 5 updateslatest 2 Jun 2026checked 25 Sep
Customers
DARPA (opens darpa.mil)
Partners
QuantinuumAtom Computing
People
Chetan Nayak (opens en.wikipedia.org)Technical Fellow, quantum hardware
Primer