Microsoft today introduced Majorana 1, the world's first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture that it expects will realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.

QuEra, Quantinuum and Quantum Circuits are in the lead with error corrected or fast error detecting quantum systems. We are still 4-8 years away from major error corrected quantum systems that might make a big computing difference for some kinds of problems.

Microsoft leverages the world's first topoconductor, a breakthrough type of material which can observe and control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits, which are the building blocks for quantum computers.

The Microsoft Majorana 1 chip currently has 8 qubits. These are topological qubits, which are designed to be more stable and less prone to errors compared to traditional qubits, thanks to their unique properties based on Majorana zero modes.

Microsoft has outlined an ambitious roadmap to scale up to 1 million qubits on a single chip. This significant jump from 8 qubits is made feasible by their new architecture, which leverages the inherent stability of topological qubits. The company believes this approach provides a clear path to fitting a million qubits onto a single chip, a claim supported by the enhanced error resistance of their qubit design.

Regarding whether these 1 million qubits would be logical qubits or raw qubits:

Raw qubits refer to the physical qubits on the chip.
Logical qubits are error-corrected qubits capable of reliable computations, typically requiring multiple raw qubits for error correction.