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Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

azure.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#91

Post by nobankai »

pinoy420 wrote: post #86
fooker wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The long explanations boil down to this: quantum computers ( so far ) are better ( given a million qubits ) than classical computers at ( problems that are in disguise ) simulating quantum computers.

Just like fusion energy it is pointless and you are not allowed to have excitement about it because some anonymous stranger on HN said so. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43093939#43094339

You're certainly allowed to get excited about it as long as you're patient and don't wildly overinflate the realistic timeline to net energy production. Similarly, nobody will stop you from hyping up quantum computation as long as you're not bullshitting usecases or lying about qubit scaling.

In the wake of cryptocurrency and AI failing to live up to their outrageous levels of hype, many people on this site worry that the "feel the AGI" crowd might accidentally start feeling some other, seemingly-profitable vaporware to overhype and pump.

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#93

Post by pas »

patates wrote: post #75
ABS wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft Research entire point is that their approach will allow "fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture based on noise-resilient, topologically protected Majorana-based qubits." Roadmap to fault tolerant quantum computation using topological qubit arrays https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12252

Usually when people try to explain something about quantum computers, it feels like someone is trying to teach me what a monad is from the infamous example in some old haskell docs. I'm not proud of my ignorance, and I sure hope that eventually if I get it, it'd be very useful for me. At least it worked like that for monads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yHOrloxRA Bela Bauer (MS Research) - Fault Tolerant Quantum Computation using Majorana-Based Topological Qubits

(note, I have no idea how the braiding happens, or what it means, or ... the rest of the fucking owl, but ... the part about the local indistinguishability is an important part of the puzzle, and why it helps against noise ... also have no idea what's the G-factor, but ... also have no idea what the s-wave/p-wave superconductors are, but ... https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhysics/comments/11opcy1/comment... ... also ... phew )

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#94

Post by adultSwim »

geodel wrote: post #56
amelius wrote: post #50

This is why I'm more excited about Microsoft than Apple.

Agree. Why would I buy Apple M4 macbook when I can have Majorana 1 running Windows 11 and install MS Teams to be extra productive.

They rewrote Teams and it's good now.

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#96

Post by porridgeraisin »

ykonstant wrote: post #54
Mistletoe wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI hype is running out of steam, the stock needs quantum power. MSFT is only up 1.99% for the past 1Y.

Hear me out, investors: Quantum Intelligence.

You're late to the game: https://quantumai.google/

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#97

Post by radioactivist »

EvgeniyZh wrote: post #90
radioactivist wrote: post #78

A few things to keep in mind, given how hard of a media push this is being given (which should immediately set off alarm bells in your head that this might be bullshit) - Topological phases of matter (similar, but not identical to the one discussed here) have been known for decades and were first observed experimentally in the 1980s. - Creating Majorana quasiparticles has a long history of false starts and retracted…

The claim/hope is that topological qubits are fault tolerant or at least suffer from much lower errors (very roughly you can think of topological qubits as an error correction code built of the atoms, ie on scale of Avogadro's number). If, for example they could build a single qubit even with 10^-6 error rates that would in fact put them __ahead__ of all other attempts at the path to fault tolerance (but no NISQ). It…

I understand the claim and what they are trying to do (and they've been trying to do it for 20 years now). It's an interesting approach and it is orthogonal enough from other efforts that it is absolutely worthwhile to pursue scientifically (I'm in an adjacent field in condensed matter physics).

But they are doing a full court press in the media (professionally produced talking head videos, NYT articles/other media, etc, etc) claiming all of those things you've just said are right around the corner. And that's going to confuse and mislead the public. So there needs to push back on what I think is clear bullshit/spin by a company trying to sell itself using this development.

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#99

Post by tibbar »

benhauer wrote: post #60
kjellsbells wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another take, to feed your cynicism: MSFT need money to keep investing in this sort of science. By posting announcements like this they hope to become the obvious place for investors interested in quantum to park their money. Stock price goes brrr, MSFT wins. More cynical still: what exactly has the Strategic Missions and Technologies unit achieved in the last few years? Burned a few billion on Azure for Operators, a…

Does MSFT sell new stock? If not, how does the stock price going up affect their ability to invest?

Even if Microsoft doesn't sell the stock it controls, its existing assets become more valuable when the stock price goes up. There are many ways one could spend those resources if needed: sell it off, borrow against the assets, trade the stock for stock in other companies.

However, since Microsoft has plenty of cash flow already, they can probably afford to just sit on the investment.

Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor

#100

Post by cbracketdash »

dev1ycan wrote: post #83

Microsoft really is a pathetic company rnd wise compared to what companies of similar size like Bell Labs were at their prime

To be fair, MSFT was not started as a research company and is more of a mass market commercializer of existing technology. Bell Labs' primary goal was to discover new science and invent practical applications. (Reminds me I should go read "The Idea Factory"! (story of bell labs))

IMO new breakthroughs in our understanding of physics would be needed first to make substantial progress in QC. As long as MSFT isn't investing in attosecond lasers or low temperature experiments, RSA will remain secure.

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