Microsoft unveils first quantum computing chip for future data centres

Microsoft Corp. announced its first quantum computing chip, a major step in the company’s effort to produce devices that might someday solve problems beyond the reach of modern computers.

The company says its Majorana 1 chip harnesses 8 qubits, the building blocks of quantum computing, on a sticky-note-sized piece of hardware it figures could eventually host 1 million of them. Right now, the chip is capable of little more than solving math problems that prove it can be controlled. But Microsoft engineers say it’s far enough along to serve as the foundation for future quantum machines.