Microsoft's new quantum computer chip has a fundamental problem

Microsoft announced today that it has improved its quantum technology with a new chip named Majorana 2, but outside experts say the device does not work and the underlying approach has never been validated. The company claims the chip uses a topological approach based on Majorana quasiparticles in superconducting wires, which theoretically resists noise better than other quantum systems. Microsoft says the method could eventually scale to millions of qubits on a single chip. The claim is detailed in a new preprint manuscript that has not been peer-reviewed. The team replaced the aluminum superconductor used in the previous Majorana 1 chip with lead, which Microsoft says improves the qubit's longevity to 20 seconds to a minute. A company blog post stated this rapid progress allows Microsoft to accelerate its roadmap, targeting scalable practical quantum computing