Microsoft (MSFT) on Wednesday announced a new kind of quantum computer chip that it says will make quantum computers useful in years, rather than decades in the future. The chip, called Majorana 1, uses what Microsoft says is a new type of material called a topoconductor, which the company claims takes advantage of a new state of matter that is not solid, liquid, or gas, but a topological state. The upshot is that Microsoft says its approach will help lead to chips that can perform complex tasks needed to research topics including material sciences and healthcare. Quantum computers are specialized...