Quantum computing stocks jump after Satya Nadella says quantum 'next big accelerator'

Quantum computing stocks jumped in early trading today, July 31. The trigger was a remark by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that quantum technology will be the next cloud "accelerator."

Nadella, speaking on Microsoft's earnings call yesterday, said, "the next big accelerator in cloud will be quantum." This has buoyed quantum computing stocks, which have notched gains of up to 7% this morning, noted the Investor's Business Daily. 

- Rigetti Computing ($4.6 billion market capitalization) has jumped 6.1% this morning to $15.04 per share. Yesterday, the stock closed down 2.0% at $14.20 per share.

- D-Wave Quantum ($5.3 billion) has risen 5.1% today to $17.90 per share. Yesterday, it retreated 3.5% to $17.06 per share.

- Quantum Computing ($2.4 billion) has gained 5.8% this morning to $15.60 per share. Yesterday, the stock lost 4.2% to $14.70 per share.

- IonQ ($11.6 billion) has advanced 4.6% today to $41.80 per share. Yesterday, it gave up 1.6% to close at $39.90 per share.

The prospects for quantum computing are becoming a hotly debated topic. In January, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told analysts that getting “very useful quantum computers” to market could take 15 to 30 years. This caused segment stocks to plunge: On January 8, IonQ plummeted 39%, D-Wave Quantum more than 36%, Quantum Computing more than 43%, and Rigetti Computing more than 45%. 

In March, at Nvidia’s annual developer conference, Huang led a panel discussion featuring leaders of quantum computing companies and admitted he had been wrong. “My first reaction was, ‘I didn’t know they were public! How could a quantum computer company be public?’” Huang said.

In an interview with Bloomberg Technology on March 20, IonQ Chair Peter Chapman claimed that quantum technology is just a few years away from making a breakthrough in the market. The next day, speaking to the Investor’s Business Daily, he speculated that the quantum sector would experience a “ChatGPT moment.” “If I was [OpenAI CEO] Sam Altman five years ago, would I have spent even any energy trying to convince the world that AI is coming?” Chapman said. “You could have had Sam Altman buck naked on a corner street in San Francisco with a sandwich board saying AI is coming, and no one would have listened."

The AI translation of this story was reviewed by a human editor.