By Callum Keown
Microsoft has launched a new quantum chip that it says is 1000 times more reliable than its predecessor, while halving its timeline to develop a scalable quantum computer to 2029.
It sounds fancy, but it's not likely to resonate with investors yet or meaningfully help the shares at this point. The stock pointed 1.1% lower at $436.60 ahead of the open Wednesday after falling more than 4% in the previous session.
KeyBanc analysts said they see the company's quantum offering as a "longer-term growth focus," in a note late Tuesday.
Investors have more pressing areas to focus on.
Microsoft also launched seven new artificial intelligence models at its Build developer conference on Tuesday. It looks to be taking on OpenAI and Anthropic on that front. The tech giant ended its exclusive partnership with the ChatGPT maker OpenAI in April, giving both companies more freedom to develop AI products.
"One model we found particularly noteworthy is MAI-Thinking-1, Microsoft's first reasoning model built at a low-token cost," KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader said. He noted that the company has been using its own chips -- Maia 200 -- to build models. "As silicon co-design helps to cut costs, we view this positively as Microsoft competes against the likes of Amazon's Trainium and Google's TPU chips, " he added.
The stock has jumped around 20% since the beginning of April but remains 9% down in 2026. Investors still need a bit of convincing for the recovery to keep going -- that won't come from quantum for now.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 03, 2026 06:17 ET (10:17 GMT)
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