Microsoft unveils Majorana 2 quantum chip at Build

Microsoft Unveils Majorana 2 Quantum Chip, Targets Commercially Useful Quantum Computer by 2029

Microsoft announced Majorana 2, its next-generation quantum computing chip, at the Build developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. The company says the new processor represents a major leap in qubit reliability and has moved up its timeline for delivering a commercially useful quantum machine to 2029.

The chip succeeds Majorana 1, which Microsoft introduced in February 2025 amid both excitement and skepticism from physicists who questioned whether the company had truly demonstrated a topological qubit. With Majorana 2, Microsoft is doubling down on its topological approach — and claiming results that are harder to dismiss.

A 1,000-Fold Improvement in Reliability

According to Microsoft, the qubits in Majorana 2 are 1,000 times more reliable than those in its predecessor. Chetan Nayak, leader of Microsoft’s Azure Quantum team, said that while Majorana 1’s aluminum-based qubits had lifetimes ranging from one to 12 milliseconds, Majorana 2’s qubits now exceed 20 seconds of parity lifetime.theverge

The gains stem from a redesigned material stack incorporating lead and antimony, along with improved fabrication processes. The topological gap — a key parameter in Majorana-based qubits — more than doubled compared to the previous design.quantumcomputingreport

AI Helped Design the Chip

Microsoft said the new chip was developed with assistance from its Discovery platform, which uses agentic AI to accelerate materials research. The company announced it is making Discovery available to outside researchers starting Tuesday.theverge

The AI-assisted redesign marks a convergence of two of Microsoft’s largest bets: artificial intelligence and quantum computing. By using AI agents to explore material combinations and optimize fabrication, Microsoft said it was able to identify the improved design faster than traditional methods would allow.

Racing Toward 2029

Microsoft now says it expects to have a scalable, topological quantum computer by 2029, described by the Quantum Computing Report as “much earlier than originally anticipated”. The announcement comes days after IBM said it would invest more than $10 billion over five years to build a large-scale quantum computer by the same target year, according to Reuters.reuters

Microsoft is still characterizing the full capabilities of the Majorana 2 chip but says initial tests suggest further performance gains are forthcoming. Whether the broader physics community will embrace Microsoft’s topological claims remains an open question — but the 2029 quantum race now has at least two well-funded contenders.quantumcomputingreport