Microsoft Gives DARPA Access to Majorana System, Opens Maryland Quantum Research Center

Insider Brief

• Microsoft opened a 15,000-square-foot quantum research center at the University of Maryland that will support hardware research, partner integration, workforce training and government collaboration.
• The center will give DARPA on-site access to Microsoft’s latest topological quantum system, including qubits built on its Majorana 2 chip, for independent testing under the agency’s utility-scale quantum program.
• Microsoft is also launching a quantum hardware makerspace, annual measurement-based computing workshops and UMD postdoctoral funding, with partners including AMD, Intel, IQM, Fermilab, Riverlane and Quantum Motion.

Microsoft has opened a quantum research center in Maryland that will house one of its topological quantum systems for independent testing by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, widening the government’s role in evaluating the company’s path toward large-scale quantum computers.

The 15,000-square-foot center, located in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District, combines Microsoft’s proprietary research space with laboratories for partner companies, a DARPA testing area and a hands-on training lab. Microsoft reports in a company blog post that the project was developed with the university, the state-backed Capital of Quantum Initiative and other industry partners.