Microsoft Quantum is pursuing Topological qubits, a different bet from the transmon and trapped-ion approaches used elsewhere. Information is encoded in the braiding of Majorana zero modes, quasiparticles predicted to emerge at the ends of specially engineered superconductor-semiconductor nanowires. Because the information sits in a global topological property rather than a local physical state, the qubit should resist local noise far better than other platforms.

This has been the most contested approach in the field. Microsoft's earlier Majorana detection claims were retracted after independent scrutiny, before the company announced its Majorana 1 chip in 2025 as a renewed claim. Microsoft also runs Azure Quantum, a cloud platform giving access to other vendors' hardware, including IonQ and Quantinuum.