Microsoft boasts of a quantum chip that uses a new state of matter. Investors don’t care.

It’s being billed as a “breakthrough,” a “pivotal moment,” and a “transformative leap toward practical quantum computing” by Microsoft.

In a blog post, Microsoft’s vice president of quantum hardware, Chetan Nayak, announced the development of a new quantum chip powered by topological superconductivity, “a new state of matter that previously existed only in theory.”

Shares are up modestly on the day, while smaller pure-play companies like Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing, and D-Wave Quantum are booking stronger gains as the news seemingly lifts the industry.

What is a topological qubit, this mysterious new state of matter? Well, hope this clears it up:

“The basic structure of a topological qubit places a suitable semiconductor nanowire in close proximity to a superconductor. Due to the proximity, the semiconductor nanowire also becomes superconducting and under the right conditions (including an appropriate magnetic field along the wire and voltages applied to the device) the semiconductor nanowire enters the topological phase.”

But to grossly oversimplify: the semiconductor, Majorana 1, is designed to house 1 million qubits. More qubits equals more processing power. And per Microsoft, the error probability in initial tests was 1%.

“It’s perhaps not surprising that quantum computation would require us to engineer a new state of matter specifically designed to enable it,” Nayak wrote. “What’s remarkable is how accurate our readout technique already is, demonstrating that we are harnessing this exotic state of matter for quantum computation.”

I think that is the first and last time I will see “not surprising” and “engineer a new state of matter” in the same sentence.