Microsoft's new quantum chip, Majorana 2, extends qubit lifetime to 20 seconds on average, reaching up to a minute in the best cases. This marks a 1000x stability improvement over last year's model.

The breakthrough comes from switching superconducting materials from aluminum to lead, which better shields qubits from external noise that causes errors.

Longer qubit lifetimes bring practical quantum computing closer, enabling complex tasks like drug discovery and logistics optimization. Microsoft now aims for a scalable quantum computer by 2029, halving its previous timeline.

📊@tech