Jensen Huang’s Comment on Quantum Computers Draws the Ire from Industry

A single statement from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during an analyst event at CES has triggered a massive selloff in the quantum computing sector, erasing approximately $8 billion in market value, according to reports. 

Huang suggested that bringing “very useful quantum computers” to market could take 15 to 30 years, citing the need for quantum processors, or qubits, to increase by a factor of 1 million.  

Quantum computing stocks crash after AI godfather Jensen Huang exploded the quantum computing bubble w/3 lines: "If you said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said 30 is probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I… pic.twitter.com/8XG4xYZEBv

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) January 8, 2025

Market Fallout

Huang’s comment had a ripple effect. The quantum computing companies’ stocks have witnessed a sharp decline ever since. For instance, IonQ shares fell over 31.65%, while Rigetti Computing dropped by 37.25%, and D-Wave Quantum saw its stock tumble down by 25.61% after Huang’s statement. 

The remarks undermined the optimism that had been building in the sector, particularly following Google’s announcement of a breakthrough with its Willow quantum chip in December. 

Google revealed progress in creating a 105-qubit chip, part of its roadmap to develop a quantum system with 1 million qubits. This news led to a great exchange between Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk with dreams of building quantum clusters in space. 

Industry Pushes Back

However, countering his claim, Quantum leaders were quick to challenge and form an alternative narrative. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave Quantum, dismissed Huang’s comments as “dead wrong.” 

Baratz told CNBC that the reason was “that we at D-Wave are commercial today.” He pointed to clients like Mastercard and NTT Docomo, which are already leveraging their quantum systems for business operations.  

— amit (@amitisinvesting) January 8, 2025

Baratz acknowledged that Huang’s timeline might apply to gate-based quantum computers but argued it was “100% off base” for annealing quantum computers, which D-Wave specialises in. 

He also said that D-Wave quantum computers solve in minutes what supercomputers would take millions of years, challenging Huang’s views on current tech capabilities. He publicly offered to meet with Huang to clarify what he described as “knowledge gaps” in the CEO’s understanding.  

Another user on X took to the platform to address this, saying, “NVIDIA is literally hiring quantum engineers right now.”

— Ashton Cheekly (@elwalvador) January 8, 2025

Similarly, others have also posted images of NVIDIA job postings for a quantum computing director and related positions; the very next day, Huang expressed his views.

The selloff followed a period of intense investor interest in quantum computing. While Huang’s projection has sparked debate, it underscores the technical and commercial challenges facing the quantum computing sector. 

For now, Huang’s remarks have cast a shadow over what was previously seen as a fast-moving and highly promising market.