Investing

Rigetti Computing Wrecked After Nvidia CEO's Comments on Quantum Computing

Rich Duprey

Published: January 8, 2025 1:16 pm

Thanks for nothing, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). CEO Jensen Huang lit the entire quantum computing sector on fire last night after saying the technology won’t be “very useful” for at least 15 years and maybe as many as 30 years. He may as well have poured gasoline on the industry and thrown in a lit match.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) was the worst hit, with shares plunging 49% heading into midday trading Wednesday. 

While quantum computing stocks had been riding a wave of hope especially since Alphabet‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google announced in December its Willow chip would “pave the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer,” Nvidia just threw a wet blanket over the party.

24/7 Wall St. Insights:

• Rigetti Computing (RGTI) is a leading name in the quantum computing space, but just had its stock cut in half on comments made by Nvidia‘s (NVDA) CEO.
• Jensen Huang said quantum computing has about two decades before its a viable technology, which undercut the sector and sent all stocks in the space careening lower.
• If you’re looking for some stocks with huge potential, make sure to grab a free copy of our brand-new “The Next NVIDIA” report. It features a software stock we’re confident has 10X potential.

A quantum leap off a cliff

Quantum computing is seen as the next stage of computing. Rigetti, as one of the popular players in the space, rode that wave to huge gains with the stock soaring 2,340% since October. But the reality of the market is quantum computing is still not ready for prime time. 

The industry hasn’t even learned how to walk yet let alone run. While there is potential for real-world uses for quantum computers in the future, there are no real practical uses yet for the current phase of the technology. Also, the hardware isn’t up to speed and there are a lot of problems with the technology. That was largely the thrust of Huang’s comments.

In a Q&A session last night at CES 2025, a forum where Nvidia had unveiled some dramatic advances for its own technology, not least of which was an AI PC featuring its newest Blackwell AI accelerator chip, Huang said, “If you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said 30 it’s probably on the late side. If you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it.”

Quantum computing is still an emerging technology. Its computers are designed to perform certain tasks much faster than traditional ones by harnessing the power of quantum mechanics. 

Essentially, where traditional computers divide data into binary 1’s and 0’s, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which put those digits into “superposition.” That means a 1 or a 0 can be a 1, a 0, both or anything in between and can do so all at the same time.

Rigetti stock turned into confetti

Rigetti recently debuted its innovative Novera quantum processor, a 9 qubit quantum processing unit (QPU), and publicly released its public launch of its 84-qubit Ankaa-3 system. Its roadmap calls for releasing a 36 qubit system by middle of this year, a 100 qubit system by the end of 2025, and a 336 qubit system after that. 

The market is casting doubts on its utility. RGTI stock fell from yesterday’s close of $18.39 per share to $9.47 in morning trading. 

Betting on quantum computing was always a risky move. The technology still needs to prove it can be a viable option and the Google announcement seemed to indicate it was moving further along than many believed.

The market’s reaction to Huang comments may just be an overreaction and the quantum computing sector will regain some of its lost ground, but there seems little reason to dive back into Rigetti Computing just yet.