Quantum Computer Stocks Rise and Fall

Quantum computer startup stocks have been skyrocketing, as Dr. Bee notes, but Nvidia just threw cold water:

The shares of IonQ Inc. and other companies linked to quantum computing tumbled on Wednesday, after Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said that “very useful” quantum computers are likely 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,” Huang said in a question-and-answer session during Nvidia’s analyst day. “If you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it.”

Shares in Quantum Computing Inc., D-Wave Quantum Inc. and Rigetti Computing Inc. dropped more than 30%, while IonQ fell about 29%. These stocks have soared in recent months amid excitement about the technology’s potential, which was heightened last month following a quantum computing breakthrough by Alphabet Inc.

Nvidia has been profiting, a little, from the quantum computer hype and people simulate the QC on its processors.

I think that having a useful quantum computer in 20 years is optimistic. People do not usually invest, based on waiting 20 years to get a return.

Update: Dr. Quantum Supremacy weighs in:

yes, there’s a lot still to be done, and twenty years might well be correct. ...

On the other hand, I can’t say with certainty that high valuations are wrong! ...

For whatever it’s worth, my own family’s money is just sitting in index funds and CDs. I have no quantum computing investments of any kind.