SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 24 (Reuters) - A new critical study published in the journal Nature has raised fresh questions about what Microsoft announced last year as a breakthrough in quantum computing, which formed the basis of the company's announcement this month that it will be able to develop a quantum operating system by 2029.

Quantum computers can solve scientific and security problems that are beyond the capabilities of traditional computers. These computers have become a priority for the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has invested $2 billion in the field and this week set goals to establish a quantum scientific system by 2028.

Like its competitors among major technology companies such as IBM and Alphabet (Google's parent company), Microsoft is working on developing its own quantum computer. But while its rivals have been designing machines based on better-understood quantum technologies, Microsoft has spent nearly two decades trying to achieve a new scientific breakthrough in a technology it says could help it surpass its competitors.

In an official response to the criticism, Microsoft told Reuters in an interview that it has confidence in its research and that its quantum program is making practical progress despite any concerns.

Withdraw two research papers

Microsoft's scientific efforts have faced skepticism, as two previous research papers from the journal Nature, which the company supported, were withdrawn, while editors pointed to potential research problems in two other papers, one in Nature and the other in Science.

Microsoft said the two research papers retracted from Nature were prepared outside its laboratories, and that it did not review the data contained in them before publication.

A peer-reviewed critical study published Wednesday in the journal Nature by Henry Legge, a lecturer in quantum physics at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, raises concerns about a fifth paper published in February 2025 and an associated press release. This paper, which has not been retracted, forms the basis of all subsequent Microsoft efforts in the field of quantum physics.

* Majorana corpuscle

Microsoft announced last year that it had discovered the Majorana particle, a subatomic particle central to its research. However, the company did not publish this discovery in a peer-reviewed journal like Nature.

A research paper published in Nature in February 2025 announced a limited advance: Microsoft had developed software to identify microscopic gaps in wires that, under normal conditions, have high conductivity.

This gap is important because qubits, the basic units of quantum computers, are powerful but fragile and often lose their state in fractions of a second. Microsoft says that finding a stable gap in a conductive wire is part of a process that could lead to the creation of more sustainable and useful qubits.

* "Inconsistent results"

However, Legg found that Microsoft's software "produced inconsistent and misleading results." He stated that a broader dataset published by Microsoft, but not included in the research paper, showed random noise without clear evidence of the gap that Microsoft claimed to have found.

Legg likened this attempt during an interview to searching for someone's image in a slice of toast by examining the entire production of a bakery.

Legg said, "If you're looking at something that is essentially just a random physical phenomenon, you'll eventually find the person's image in your toast."

In its response published in the journal Nature, Microsoft defended its announcement, saying the software is a practical adjustment tool for finding suitable locations on its chips to place qubits.

Chetan Nayak, who oversees Microsoft's quantum computing efforts, told Reuters in an interview that the coding works so well that Microsoft uses it regularly in preparing the chips that now perform quantum computing.