The processor uses qubits that can be measured without error and are resistant to outside interference, which the company says marks a “transformative leap toward practical quantum computing.”

Microsoft is claiming to have created a topological qubit—something engineers have been trying to achieve for years.

The tech giant joins Google and IBM in predicting that a fundamental change in computing technology is much closer than recently believed. Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a new chip that it said showed quantum computing is “years,