The rush for quantum computing gold took on a whole new light today as Microsoft (MSFT) announced the arrival of the Majorana 1 chip, a

By integrating topoconductors and Majorana particles, Microsoft has mapped out a viable route to a million-qubit quantum chip

Microsoft unveiled a new chip on Wednesday (February 19) that it said showed quantum computing is "years, not decades" away, joining Google and IBM in predicting that a fundamental change in computing technology is much closer than recently believed.

The breakthrough with Majorana 1 comes after a nearly 20-year quest to harness a new state of matter, which Microsoft says it has now done with its 'topological superconductors.'

Microsoft on Wednesday announced Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip. The achievement comes after the company has spent nearly two decades of research in the field. Technologists believe quantum computers could one day efficiently solve problems that would be taxing if not impossible for classical computers.