The stocks of quantum technology companies plummeted sharply following a forecast by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding the future of quantum computing.
The quantum computing market suffered a major blow today as shares of IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and others dropped significantly. Speaking at an analyst event during CES 2025, Huang stated that the emergence of “useful” quantum computers could still take decades.
“If we talk about 15 years, that’s overly optimistic. Thirty years is overly pessimistic. But 20 years sounds plausible,” Huang said.
He also emphasized that Nvidia, as a leader in AI chip development, will play a pivotal role in accelerating the progress of quantum technologies.
How did the market react?
• IonQ — shares fell by 45%
• Rigetti Computing — dropped by over 48%
• Quantum Computing Inc. — plunged by 49%
• D-Wave Quantum — declined by 47%
These companies were already facing difficulties in attracting investments, and skepticism from a leading figure in the tech industry only added fuel to the fire.
How are the industry giants responding?
Google is pursuing its own approach. In December 2024, the company introduced its quantum chip Willow, claiming significant progress in reducing error rates as qubits are added—a key challenge in quantum computing.
“Errors remain a major issue because quantum information is easily lost due to interactions with the environment,” explained Hartmut Neven, head of Google Quantum AI.
Despite Google’s advancements, Huang’s comments highlight that quantum computing is still in its infancy.
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