Microsoft unveils Majorana 2 and reports 20-second parity lifetimes

What happened

Microsoft unveiled Majorana 2, its second-generation topological processor, on 2 June 2026. It replaces Majorana 1's aluminium superconductor with lead, and the technical paper reports a characteristic parity-switching lifetime of about 20 seconds in a hybrid nanowire. Microsoft now targets a scalable quantum computer by 2029, half its original timeline. On 22 September 2026 it opened a 15,000 sq ft research centre in Maryland where DARPA has on-site access to Majorana 2 qubits for independent testing under its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing programme. The parity lifetimes measure persistence between parity switches; coherent qubit operations need additional evidence, and the Q-Day estimates above turn on error-corrected logical operations at far larger scale.