Quantum Stocks Dive After Nvidia CEO Warns the Era is Still Decades Away
1min read Quantum computing stocks took a significant hit in extended trading following a cautionary statement from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Huang expressed that very useful quantum computers are likely still decades away.
If you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said 30, it's probably on the late side. If you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it, Huang remarked during a Q&A session at Nvidia's analyst day.
IonQ and Quantum Computing fell more than 13% in the post-market, while D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing dropped over 12% following Huang's comments. These stocks had previously soared in recent months amid heightened excitement about the potential of quantum technology, especially after Alphabet Inc. announced a significant breakthrough in December.
Quantum Computing shares had surged more than 1,800% over the past year, Rigetti rose over 1,500%, D-Wave advanced nearly 1,000%, and IonQ gained more than 300%. The excitement was largely fueled by Alphabet Inc.'s introduction of a new chip called Willow, which solved a complex computing problem in five minutes—a task that would take a classical computer more time than the history of the universe.
Alphabet shares dropped 0.3% in late trading following Huang's remarks. The AI giant's quantum breakthrough had initially triggered a wave of enthusiasm for quantum computing stocks, but Nvidia's tempered outlook has now cast a shadow over the sector's near-term prospects.