Microsoft claims – Microsoft says its Majorana 1 quantum chip has improved qubit lifetimes to an average of 20 seconds, moving beyond earlier milliseconds. The claim is tied to an approach based on Majorana modes in topological superconductors, but researchers dispute whether th
Quantum computing has always been measured in how long its fragile quantum states can survive. For conventional computers, glitches are usually quick and rare. For qubits, the clock is ruthless. Life on a quantum chip is often counted in milliseconds—so when Microsoft talks about qubits lasting about 20 seconds. it lands like a promise and a challenge at the same time.
Microsoft points to its Majorana 1 quantum chip. That first version, which has been mired in controversy, produced 8 qubits that were stable for only a very brief period. The second-generation Majorana 1 chip, Microsoft says, delivers 12 qubits with average lifespans of about 20 seconds.
The company’s pitch is tied to the physics behind those lifetimes. Microsoft claims it uses topological superconductors based on Majorana modes. But the story doesn’t stop at measurements. Some researchers believe the technology is actually relying on Andreev modes rather than Majorana modes. Even that disagreement has its own tangle: the dispute is described as “apparently debatable. ” and Microsoft appears to have retracted an earlier paper while still standing by its claim that it is producing Majorana fermions.
A basic number keeps intruding on every milestone like this: practical quantum computing won’t run on 8 or 12 qubits. To be useful. you’ll need millions of qubits. alongside better fault tolerance and error correction—plus a long list of operational details that don’t fit neatly into a single headline. Raw qubit count can mislead, and the field knows it.
Other companies are already working their own scaling paths. Fujitsu has a 256-qubit system, and it is on track to install one with 1,000 qubits this year. Even then. redundancy is expected to cut into the number of logical qubits. so the real bottleneck remains what the hardware can protect and what it can actually compute.
Microsoft, for its part, keeps an eye on the horizon. The company claims it will have a commercially viable machine by 2029. Until then, the gap between what qubits can do and what applications require will likely remain the loudest question in the room.
It’s tempting to focus on the 20-second figure and feel relief—that the qubit clock is stretching. But quantum computing rarely rewards optimism without scrutiny. In a field where one interpretation can be overturned by the next experiment. every longer-lived qubit still has to answer the same hard question: what. exactly. is generating the result—and what happens when the numbers climb from dozens to millions?.
Microsoft Majorana 1 quantum computing qubits qubit lifetime 20 seconds topological superconductors Majorana modes Andreev modes Majorana fermions Andreev modes dispute quantum error correction fault tolerance Fujitsu 256 qubits 1000 qubits commercial quantum 2029
20 seconds?? that’s like… way longer than milliseconds so they’re basically solved it right?
I saw a headline about “Majorana” and my brain just went to like cancer? lol. Anyway if they retracted a paper then how is this not just marketing?
So they say 12 qubits last 20 seconds but researchers are saying it might be Andreev modes not Majorana. I swear it’s always “we’re right but also maybe not” with quantum stuff. Also millions of qubits?? that’s not happening anytime soon.
This sounds good until you read the part about fault tolerance and error correction not fitting into the headline. Like okay sure 20 seconds but can it actually do anything useful or is it just holding hands and surviving longer? And why would anyone care about qubit lifetimes if you still need like a million of them… seems pointless to me.