Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has accelerated its quantum computing ambitions, announcing plans to deliver a commercially useful, scalable quantum computer by 2029. The company moved the target from 2033 after a June 2 release of Majorana 2, the company's latest topological quantum chip.

Microsoft replaced the aluminum-based superconducting stack used in its 2025 Majorana 1 prototype with lead, a material better known for its radiation-shielding properties. The company stated that lead helps protect fragile quantum states from cosmic disturbances while strengthening electron pair binding, resulting in significantly more stable qubits.

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According to the firm, Majorana 2 means qubit lifetime is 20 seconds and, in some instances, as long as one minute. A qubit (quantum bit) is a representation of a simultaneous state of 0 and 1, or any fractional combination of both.

It exists in multiple states simultaneously, giving it the property of superposition. Because of that, a quantum computer can evaluate millions of possibilities simultaneously rather than checking them one by one, as a classical computer would.

"That improvement is roughly comparable to inventing a phone battery that, instead of dying in a day, could last for nearly three years ...