Quantum Computing Stocks Soar Wednesday as D-Wave Claims Breakthrough
Key Takeaways
D-Wave Quantum (
QBTS
) shares popped Wednesday, along with other quantum computing stocks, after the company claimed to achieve a breakthrough.
In an article published in the journal
Science,
D-Wave said its quantum computer “outperformed one of the world’s most powerful classical supercomputers” at solving complex simulation problems.
D-Wave shares were up 10% in recent trading, while shares of fellow quantum computing firms Rigetti Computing (
RGTI
) and Quantum Computing (
QUBT
) also gained.
Quantum computing developments have been in the spotlight in recent months, with Google parent Alphabet (
GOOGL
) unveiling a quantum chip known as
Willow
in December. Microsoft (
MSFT
) followed suit last month with its own quantum chip,
Majorana 1
.
However, Nvidia (
NVDA
) CEO Jensen Huang recently cautioned it could be
15 to 30 years
before there are "very useful quantum computers.” Meta’s (
META
) Mark Zuckerberg has expressed
similar concerns
.
Despite a tough start to the year, D-Wave shares have nearly tripled in value over the past 12 months. Rigetti and Quantum Computing shares more than quadrupled in value over the same period.