Majorana 2 quantum chip unlocks 1,000x stability, keeps qubits alive 20 seconds

Microsoft unveiled Majorana 2, a new quantum chip it says greatly improves qubit stability, with average lifetimes of about 20 seconds and some reaching one minute.

The company says the advance comes from switching the materials stack from aluminum-based superconductors to lead, a change aimed at reducing qubit noise and loss.

Microsoft also said the chip benefited from its Microsoft Discovery AI platform, highlighting how AI is helping speed up hardware research.

If the results hold, Microsoft believes they could bring scalable quantum computing closer, cutting its target timeline to 2029 and potentially accelerating drug discovery, materials science, and logistics.