Scientists Cast Doubt on Microsoft's Quantum "Breakthrough" with Majorana 1 Chip

[T0@st]

Microsoft launched its Majorana 1 chip—the world's first quantum processor powered by a Topological Core architecture—last month. The company's debuting of its Majorana design was celebrated as a significant milestone—in 2023, an ambitious roadmap was published by Microsoft's research department. At the time, a tall Majorana particle-based task was set: the building of a proprietary quantum supercomputer within a decade. Returning to the present day; outside parties have criticized Microsoft's February announcements. The Register published an investigative piece earlier today, based on quotes from key players specializing in the field of Quantum studies. Many propose a theoretical existence of Majorana particles, while Microsoft R&D employees have claimed detection and utilization. The Register referred back to recent history: "(Microsoft) made big claims about Majorana particles before, but it didn't end well: in 2021 Redmond's researchers retracted a 2018 paper in which they claimed to have detected the particles."

As pointed out by Microsoft researcher Chetan Nayak; their latest paper was actually authored last March 2024, but only made public in recent weeks. Further details of progress are expected next week, at the American Physical Society (APS) 2025 Joint March Meeting. The Register has compiled quotes from vocal critics; starting with Henry Legg—a lecturer in theoretical physics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. The noted scholar believes—as divulged in a scientific online comment—that Microsoft's claimed Quantum breakthrough: "is not reliable and must be revisited." Similarly, collaborators from Germany's Forschungszentrum Jülich institute and the University of Pittsburgh, USA released a joint video statement. (Respectively) Experimental physicist Vincent Mourik and by Professor Sergey Frolov outlined: "distractions caused by unreliable scientific claims from Microsoft Quantum."




The Register's investigative journalist—Thomas Claburn—got in contact with Prof. Frolov. Longer musings were extracted from the expert: "these concerns go back quite a number of years so [the community reaction] hasn't just been triggered by this announcement per se...It was just made in such a dramatic way that it, I guess, triggered a reaction but (it hasn't altered) the underlying sort of understanding that this is essentially a fraudulent project." Elaborating on that accusation, Frolov opined: "this is a piece of alleged technology that is based on basic physics that has not been established. So this is a pretty big problem." Frolov has heard from unnamed sources, who are (allegedly) already familiarized and not impressed with Microsoft's APS-ready meeting notes. The Redmond-based Quantum R&D will likely face further criticism—Frolov anticipates that the upcoming Joint March Meeting will not satisfy curious outside minds.

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[Epaminombas]

Microsoft only made the announcement because it needs to patent the product.

It certainly managed to reach 1 million QUbits, but it was not stable enough to be sold as a product.
It needs guarantees and stability.

 

[Denver]

Dear Microsoft, your chip is demonstrably more prone to hallucinations than others... was that intentional when naming it?

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

“Scientists Cast Doubt on Microsoft's Quantum "Breakthrough" with Majorana 1 Chip”

as you should scientists. It’s Microsoft of all companies…

 

[Epaminombas]

“Scientists Cast Doubt on Microsoft's Quantum "Breakthrough" with Majorana 1 Chip”

as you should scientists. It’s Microsoft of all companies…

The people who develop all normal CPUs and quantum CPUs are also scientists.

The team that worked on Microsoft's quantum chip started researching the project in 2007. So it wasn't a short time ago.

 

[ScaLibBDP]

I recommend to read the publication released by Microsoft before making any conclusions.

I've read it the same day as soon as it was released to the public. There are still a lot of problems for Microsoft related to Error Correction.

It is Not so simple. There are also hype-like statements from Microsoft published on Youtube..

PS: In overall, I was Not impressed and partly tech-frustrated.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Although the Town Crier never lies, he/she only repeats whats been told. If the MS PR department said they found particles, they did, it must be true according to the Town Crier, after all, its not the first time a PR department has been spoon fed bullshiz.