By Alex Knapp
Publication Date: 2026-06-05 22:45:00
Majorana 2
John Brecher / Microsoft
Microsoft releases its second-generation quantum chip. Ultrasound could replace pacemakers. And why you shouldn’t skip breakfast. All that and more in this week’s Prototype. To get it in your inbox, sign up here.
Microsoft is doubling down on its quantum computing plans. In February of last year, it released its new class of quantum chip, Majorana 1. This week, it introduced a new version, Majorana 2, and the company is now rethinking its timeline for when it will be able to build a useful quantum computer.
“We used to talk about 2033 as a timeline for a scalable machine,” Zulfi Alam, Microsoft’s VP for quantum, told a press briefing this week. “And we are delighted to say right now that we are targeting 2029.”
Key to this aggressive change in timeline is the company’s claim that the quantum bits–aka qubits–stay together for an average of 20 seconds, about 1,000 times longer than the first-generation chip. This is one important…