Quantum computing stocks jumped after Microsoft (MSFT) announced Majorana 1, its first quantum chip, marking a major milestone for the company after two decades of research and fueling further investor optimism in this frontier market. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), Quantum Computing (QUBT) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI) all posted strong gains on Wednesday in the wake of the announcement. IonQ (IONQ), another popular name in the space, rose slightly.
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Majorana 1
Majorana 1 uses the world’s first topoconductor, which MSFT says offer a path to developing quantum systems that can scale to a million qubits, the threshhold needed for quantum computers to really deliver for real-world functions such as powering artificial intelligence machines. Quantum computers may be harnessed to build data to train AI models, for instance.
“This new architecture used to develop the Majorana 1 processor offers a clear path to fit a million qubits on a single chip that can fit in the palm of one’s hand,” Microsoft said. The topoconductor, or topological superconductor, is described as a special category of material that can create an entirely new state of matter – not a solid, liquid or gas but a “topological” state.
MSFT is not ready to commercialise the chip just yet, but the company reckons a Microsoft quantum chip might become available through its Azure cloud before 2030. “We want to get to a few hundred qubits before we start talking about commercial reliability,” Jason Zander, a Microsoft executive vice president, told CNBC.
Currently, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum cloud service, a kind of experimental lab for developers, offers access to chips from IonQ and Rigetti. A Microsoft quantum chip might become available through Azure before 2030.
Quantum Computing Stocks Advance
Companies like IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Quantum Computing and Rigetti Computing have seen huge investor interest since rallying sharply at the end of 2024 after Google announced it had completed a 100-qubit chip, marking the second phase of its strategy to build a quantum system with one million qubits. IonQ shares rose 237% in 2024, and Rigetti rocketed nearly 1,500% despite a combined $14.8 million in third-quarter revenue.
But the path has been trickier in 2025. Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang warned the technology’s practical use was 20 years away, while Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said quantum computing is “quite a ways off” from being a “practical paradigm.” Nevertheless, NVDA announced its first Quantum Day to take place at GTC 2025 in March, while Microsoft declared 2025 “the year to become quantum-ready.”
Now with Majorana 1 there is a new level of expectation. MSFT says quantum computing is years not decades away from becoming a reality. Majorana 1 “will realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades,” the company said in a blog post.
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