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.

The tech giant’s researchers say the advance could lead to vastly more powerful computers.

Microsoft has long been working on an alternative that could cut down on the overhead by using components that are far more stable. These components, called Majorana quasiparticles, are not real particles. Instead, they are special patterns of behavior that may arise inside certain physical systems and under certain conditions.