Quantum computing stocks popped on Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite also climbed as investors mulled President Donald Trump's first technology-related moves, including a massive artificial intelligence infrastructure project.
Many tech industry pundits expect long-range synergy between artificial intelligence, which requires enormous computing power, and quantum computing.
Trump on Monday canceled the Biden administration's 2023 executive order that required companies developing advanced AI models to share information with the U.S. government. And, Trump unveiled a massive AI infrastructure project called Stargate.
Japan's SoftBank Group, Oracle, MGX and OpenAI are the initial equity funders in Stargate. Arm Holdings, Microsoft and Nvidia are technology partners. The companies said they are are committing $100 billion initially and plan to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years.
Meanwhile, while generative AI leader OpenAI in 2024 hired a quantum scientist from startup PsiQuantum, OpenAI has yet to commit to a big project, according to a report.
On Tuesday, D-Wave Quantum popped 19.4% to close at 6.29.
Quantum Computing Stocks Climb
Shares of Rigetti Computing soared 42% to 13.98. IonQ stock advanced 16.5% to 45.31 while Quantum Computing advanced 17% to 11.49.
Quantum computing startups are divided into two technology camps, said a Nature report. "The one favored by Alphabet's Google, IBM, Rigetti, Qolab and others represents quantum states as currents in superconducting loops," said the Nature report. "The other, pushed by firms including IonQ, Quantinuum and Alpine Quantum Technologies uses individual ions suspended in a vacuum."
Quantum stock rallied in December after Alphabet's Google announced the Willow quantum computing chip.
All the big cloud computing services, including Amazon.com and Google, rent out access to quantum computing services, primarily to researchers.
Nvidia CEO Sends Quantum Stocks Down
Quantum computing stocks fell in early January after Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang claimed the technology is far off from commercial usage. Huang said that the technology won't be "very useful" for 15 to 30 years.
Quantum computing would pose serious competition to Nvidia in processing artificial intelligence workloads. Nvidia is the dominant supplier of AI chips but also is developing quantum technology.
Also, quantum stocks rallied in December after Alphabet's Google announced the Willow quantum computing chip. Google has been a leader in quantum research.
Advances in quantum computing are expected to surpass today's electronic-chip-based supercomputers. Quantum computing works on a subatomic level and uses exotic technologies, like supercold superconductor chips. Quantum computing's ultimate benefit is that it solves problems too complex for today's classical computers.
In other recent news on quantum stocks, Microsoft recently announced the launch of Quantum Ready, a new program from its Azure cloud computing business.
Further, Trump has named former PayPal Holdings executive and Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks as his artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar. Further, Sacks is an associate of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has emerged as a key advisor to Trump.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
