Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip, aimed at deployment in datacenters.

Microsoft claims that building its first quantum-computing chip required that it create a new state of matter, which it is referring to as a topological state.

There's a type of particle called a Majorana fermion that was hypothesized in 1937. This particle has some unique properties, and it's long been theorized that Majorana particles could prove useful for quantum computing.