Microsoft on Wednesday announced Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip. The achievement comes after the company has spent nearly two decades of research in the field. Technologists believe quantum computers could one day efficiently solve problems that would be taxing if not impossible for classical computers.

Microsoft started going down this road nearly 20 years ago, and that research has now yielded what looks like a significant quantum-computing breakthrough. The Majorana 1 chip contains eight qubits, or quantum bits, far fewer than top-tier quantum computers currently in operation.

Microsoft has introduced first quantum computing chip called Majorana 1, which could bring the tech world one step closer to quantum computers. What is a quantum computing chip?A quantum chip is a tiny piece of hardware that uses