The processor uses qubits that can be measured without error and are resistant to outside interference, which the company says marks a “transformative leap toward practical quantum computing.”

After 17 years of research, Microsoft has finally developed the Majorana 1 chip, its first quantum computing processor based on a brand-new material and architecture, reports The Verge. At the heart of a quantum computer are quantum bits (qubits),

Microsoft says it has developed a breakthrough quantum processor based on a new state of matter, giving it a clear path to achieve quantum computing’s long-term promise of solving some of the world’s most difficult problems.