Nvidia’s CEO tanked quantum computing stocks

Quantum computing stocks fell after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, in a Q&A at CES 2025, said he believes “very useful” quantum computers are 15-30 years away.

Down down in an earlier round: On Wednesday, quantum company Rigetti Computing dropped 45%, IonQ fell 39%, and Quantum Computing sank 37%, wiping away ~$4 billion in market cap. (Markets were closed Thursday due to a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter, a Wall Street tradition dating back to 1865.)

What is quantum computing? Applying the principles of quantum mechanics to perform computing tasks far too difficult for traditional computing. To put it simply, where traditional computers use bits, represented as 0s and 1s, quantum computers use qubits, which allows them to work faster and store more data.

There’s also two types of quantum computing: annealing and gate-based. Annealing quantum computers are less-powerful than gate-based quantum computers, which can run increasingly complex algorithms and be used for many more problems.

• Annealing quantum computers are in commercial use today (see: D-Wave), but gate-based quantum computers are constrained by the current state of chip development (a market Nvidia aims to play in), according to quantum physicist Anastasia Marchenkova.

🤔 Speaking of…Google recently unveiled Willow, its latest quantum chip. Though only 105 qubits vs. the tech giant’s ultimate goal of 1 million, it performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years – and also lent credence to the multiverse theory.