Quantum computing stocks advanced on Thursday after Microsoft launched a new chip that indicated the technology is not "decades away" as stated by the top boss of AI chip bellwether Nvidia.

Microsoft has announced a significant breakthrough in quantum computing: the creation of the first "topological qubits." Unlike conventional quantum bits, these qubits store information using an exotic state of matter.

Only a little more than a month after Google announced its Willow quantum computing chip, Microsoft is revealing its own. The Majorana 1, Microsoft says, makes use of a topoconductor, which is material that allows for more reliability and scalability from the chip’s qubits.