A top IonQ executive offered this investing advice on the tech giant whose CEO roiled IonQ stock, as well as shares of quantum computing companies: Don't bet against Nvidia.
"I wouldn't be shorting Jensen's stock because of quantum," Peter Chapman, executive chairman and former CEO of IonQ, told Investor's Business Daily. He was referring to Nvidia's Jensen Huang who early this year triggered a sell-off in quantum computing shares, including IonQ stock, after he said the technology won't be very useful for 15 to 30 years.
Huang hosted Nvidia's first Quantum Day on Thursday when he essentially tried to mend fences with industry leaders. The Nvidia event offered a chance for Huang to have a dialogue with quantum computing leaders.
"This whole session is going to be like a therapy session for me," Huang said.
"Today was an attempt to backtrack on his comments," Chapman said in an interview after the event. "Hopefully it will be taken as that."
IonQ Stock: Nvidia As Partner And Competitor
Chapman reaffirmed the view of many quantum computing leaders that the technology will have a meaningful impact sooner than Huang's remarks suggest. But he also appeared to downplay speculation that quantum computing will eventually become a more dominant technology, posing a serious threat to companies like Nvidia.
"I do think that more than likely we will take some workloads," he said. "But at the same time we will generate demand because these systems tend to work side-by-side with each other."
"We're both partners and, at some point, probably competitors down the road," Chapman added. "But it's no different than probably most of the tech industry."
Chapman stepped down as IonQ CEO in February when the company named Niccolo de Masi as its new chief executive and president.
Aiming For ChatGPT Moment
A tech industry veteran, Chapman understood how a new technology can be met with skepticism initially but then take off as a hot trend the way AI exploded when OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022.
"If I was Sam Altman five years ago, would I have spent even any energy trying to convince the world that AI is coming?" he said, referring to the OpenAI CEO. "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 lesson is we shouldn't spend a lot of time trying to convince people quantum is coming, instead just focus on that ChatGPT moment for quantum," Chapman added. "And that's where our focus is."
IonQ stock rallied more than 4% in morning trades on Friday. Shares of D-Wave Quantum were up a fraction, while Rigetti Computing slipped 1.5%.
