Microsoft just claimed a quantum breakthrough. A quantum physicist explains what it means

Microsoft says the Majorana 1 processor is a 'transformative leap toward practical quantum computing'. Microsoft

Researchers at Microsoft have announced the creation of the first “topological qubits” in a device that stores information in an exotic state of matter, in what may be a significant breakthrough for quantum computing.

At the same time, the researchers also published a paper in Nature and a “roadmap” for further work. The design of the Majorana 1 processor is supposed to fit up to a million qubits, which may be enough to realise many significant goals of quantum computing – such as cracking cryptographic codes and designing new drugs and materials faster.