Key Points
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IonQ has a major product launch upcoming.
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Quantinuum just released major news regarding its accuracy.
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Rigetti Computing is taking a different approach to quantum computing.
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Quantum computing is an emerging industry that could have several huge winners in it. There are countless early-stage quantum computing stocks that I think could provide massive returns, as this technology is set to provide massive economic value once viability is reached. While that may seem like a far-fetched technology, the reality is many in the industry believe 2029 could be the year when viable quantum computing shows up.
That’s right around the corner, so what stocks have huge potential? Let’s take a look.
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IonQ
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) is one of the first stocks investors think of when they hear about quantum computing. It was the first quantum computing stock to go public, and it has performed exceptionally well as a company, even if the stock is currently well off its all-time highs.
IonQ currently has one of the most accurate quantum computing technologies, with a 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity score. IonQ has achieved this thanks to its trapped-ion approach to quantum computing, which yields excellent accuracy but at the cost of processing speed.
Next year, IonQ has plans to release its 256-qubit system, which could drive huge growth for the company as clients adopt early-stage quantum computing technology. That could be the event that is needed to turn IonQ’s stock around and could kick-start huge returns.
Quantinuum
Quantinuum (NASDAQ: QNT) is one of the newer quantum computing stocks on the public market. However, it’s quickly emerging as a top option. Quantinuum just published results of 99.9995% logical fidelity, which isn’t the same measure as IonQ’s, but is still a very impressive result.
Quantinuum also uses trapped-ion technology like IonQ, which gives it an advantage in the accuracy measure of quantum computing. It believes it can achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2029, and if it could do that, it would achieve impressive shareholder returns along the way.
Rigetti Computing
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) is taking a different approach than these two. It’s focusing on superconducting computing, which hasn’t yielded the greatest accuracy results. However, superconducting computing can operate at far greater speeds than trapped-ion computing, which will be a major advantage if Rigetti can get its accuracy where it needs to be.
Rigetti’s two-qubit fidelity for its largest 108-qubit system is 99.1% (comparable to IonQ’s figure) or 99.9% for a single qubit (comparable to Quantinuum’s figure). As Rigetti’s qubit size decreases, its accuracy goes up, but those systems are so small that doing anything useful on them isn’t really viable.
Rigetti’s goal is to produce a 1,000-qubit system with 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity over the next three years, but that will be significantly smaller and less accurate than anything IonQ or Quantinuum is producing. However, because of Rigetti’s speed advantage, it may be a longer-term quantum computing play that could make a comeback over the next few years.
We’ll see how it pans out, but it’s still a viable investment option.
One thing investors need to keep in mind with this trio is that there is no guarantee any of them will reach profitability. These are very high-risk stocks that could provide a high reward, but there’s no guarantee either. There are countless impressive competitors in this space, many of whom have massive cash flows to fund quantum computing operations. These three are all upstarts and must continue to get funding from outside sources until they have a commercially viable product and business in place.
If they can make it to that stage, then they will be huge winners and a successful investment. But the reality is there will be a lot of failure in this industry too. Investors need to choose the best of the best, and these three represent that.
Should you buy stock in IonQ right now?
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Keithen Drury has positions in IonQ. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
