Investing.com -- Microsoft Corp announced Tuesday a new quantum computing chip developed with artificial intelligence assistance and set a 2029 target for commercially viable quantum machines.

The chip, named Majorana 2, uses lead-based materials instead of the aluminum superconducting wires employed by Google, IBM and other competitors. Microsoft selected lead, a larger atom, using AI tools created for materials science applications.

The company achieved a 1,000-fold improvement in certain performance metrics compared to the previous chip version, according to Jason Zander, an executive vice president overseeing Microsoft's quantum division. The technical challenge involved preventing the water-soluble lead from dissolving during chip manufacturing.

"The reason why people don't use it to build chips is it requires an incredibly specialized process to be able to go figure that out. And we figured it out," Zander said.

The timeline matches rival International Business Machines Corp, which said in May it plans to invest $10 billion in quantum computing. IBM also created a separate company to manufacture quantum chips for external customers, with support from President Donald Trump's administration.

Microsoft had not previously specified a target year for the chip, stating only that deployment would take years rather than decades.

Microsoft's quantum computing strategy depends on quasiparticles called Majoranas. The company's claim to have observed these particles has drawn criticism from physicists who say Microsoft has not released sufficient public data to verify the findings.

Science magazine said in 2025 it was investigating data from a 2020 Microsoft study. Critics maintain that data and protocol issues from earlier research papers persist in Tuesday's release.

Microsoft executives said trade secrets prevent full data disclosure but confirmed extensive confidential sharing with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which evaluates different quantum system types.

"We've done enough of the physics to really have great data," Zander said. "Believe me, I would not spend the money on the engineering if I felt like we were still off on the physics."

Microsoft and IBM compete with Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Chinese initiatives to develop quantum systems capable of solving complex problems in medicine, chemistry and cybersecurity.