Quantum Computing Stocks Sink as Nvidia CEO Says Tech Is 15 to 30 Years Away

Several stocks across the quantum computing industry, including Rigetti Computing (RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), IonQ (IONQ), and Quantum Computing (QUBT), fell sharply Wednesday following comments from Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang about the technology.

Huang said at an analyst event Tuesday that “very useful quantum computers,” which could make a number of computing tasks more efficient, are likely 15 to 30 years away.

‘Very Useful’ Quantum Computers Likely 15 to 30 Years Away

“If you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side,” Huang said. “If you said, you know, 30, it’s probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it.”

Huang also said Nvidia is an ideal partner for quantum computing companies because “it turns out that you need a classical computer to do error correction with the quantum computer, and that classical computer better be the fastest computer that humanity can build, and that happens to be us.”

D-Wave Quantum was down 33% Wednesday afternoon, while Rigetti, IonQ, and Quantum all declined around 40%. The Defiance Quantum (QTUM) exchange-traded fund (ETF), made up of the listed companies along with other chip and tech companies like Nvidia, was down 4.5%.

Those stocks ended 2024 on a substantial bull run after Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) last month revealed a quantum computing chip called Willow that the tech giant said had made significant breakthroughs.