This paper describes the fabrication and operation of a 52‐bit bubble domain memory chip designed to test the concept of on‐chip magnetic decoding. Access to one of the chip's four shift registers for the read, write, and clear functions is by means of bubble domain decoders utilizing the interaction between a conductor line and a bubble. All other functions are performed by a permalloy overlay driven by an external rotating field. The metallurgy consists of 200 A˚ evaporated permalloy for magnetoresistive sensors. 4000 A˚ electroplated permalloy for propagation etc., and 6000 A˚ electroplated copper for control lines.