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Quantum and AI for science

Microsoft's quantum and science offerings: Azure Quantum for running programs on partner hardware (IonQ, Pasqal, Quantinuum, Rigetti), the free open-source Quantum Development Kit, the resource estimator, Majorana research chips, and Microsoft Discovery for agentic research and development.

1 technology profile in this area

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Overview

Azure Quantum lets you run quantum programs on hardware from IonQ, Pasqal, Quantinuum and Rigetti, simulate algorithms, and estimate the resources a program would need on future scaled machines. The Quantum Development Kit is free and open source and supports Q#, Qiskit, Cirq and OpenQASM; you do not need an Azure account to use it, only to submit jobs to hardware.

Microsoft's own quantum hardware is research. At Build 2026 Microsoft presented Majorana 2, its next quantum chip, and said it aims for a commercially relevant scalable quantum computer by 2029. Microsoft Discovery, an agentic platform for research and development, was announced as generally available at the same event.

Most organizations can start with the free QDK and the resource estimator to test whether a problem might benefit before paying for hardware time.12

Problems it addresses

  • Knowing whether quantum helps1

    The resource estimator computes the physical resources an algorithm would need for a chosen hardware and error-correction model.

  • Locking into one vendor's hardware1

    Q# is hardware-agnostic, and Azure Quantum offers several providers with different qubit technologies.

  • Skills gap1

    The QDK works in VS Code or as a Python package and accepts Qiskit and Cirq code that teams may already have.

  • Separating research from product2

    Majorana 2 is a research chip; Microsoft's stated goal for a commercially relevant machine is 2029.

A typical workflow

  1. Learn1

    Install the QDK extension in VS Code or the QDK Python package and work through a first Q# program.

  2. Estimate1

    Run the resource estimator on the algorithm you care about to compare qubit technologies.

  3. Create a workspace1

    Set up an Azure Quantum workspace in the Azure portal when you are ready to submit jobs.

  4. Run on hardware1

    Submit jobs to the provider that fits your problem and review job costs first.

Technologies

  • Cloud service

    Azure Quantum

    Azure Quantum is Microsoft's cloud service for running quantum programs on partner hardware (IonQ, Pasqal, Quantinuum, Rigetti), on simulators, and to estimate what future fault-tolerant machines would need. Programs are written with the free, open-source Quantum Development Kit in Q#, Qiskit, Cirq or OpenQASM.

    • Infrastructure
    • Developer

Next steps

  1. Pick one optimization or chemistry problem and run it through the resource estimator.

  2. Review Azure Quantum pricing for each provider before submitting hardware jobs.

  3. Track Microsoft's quantum research, but base budgets on what is available today.

Sources

  1. What is Azure Quantum? (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported
  2. Microsoft Build 2026 live blog (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported

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