Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a popular investing theme in recent quarters as the technology promises to help businesses gain in efficiency -- and even develop game-changing products and services.

Its Majorana 1 chip, made of a new material, can perform high-level computing tasks with greater speed and accuracy, Microsoft says.

Quantum computing stocks advanced on Thursday after Microsoft launched a new chip that indicated the technology is not "decades away" as stated by the top boss of AI chip bellwether Nvidia.

There isn't yet a roadmap to show Microsoft can scale its chip to the million topological qubits required to make a working quantum computer.

Microsoft has announced a groundbreaking advancement in quantum computing with the introduction of its Majorana 1 chip. This innovative chip promises to bring the dream of quantum computing closer to reality in a matter of years rather than decades.

Microsoft’s new “topological qubit” is not based on a solid, liquid or gas. It is another phase of matter that many experts did not think was possible.

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The tech giant’s researchers say the advance could lead to vastly more powerful computers.

Microsoft has achieved this by creating a new state of matter according to the company — essentially a new material made from indium arsenide and aluminium

The company said it created a “new state of matter” that represents a major advance for quantum computing. But physicists who have reviewed the work say they aren’t convinced of the finding.