Quantum computing stocks rebounded Tuesday afternoon after a massive sell-off fueled by Big Tech CEOs expressing skepticism about the timeline for practical use of the technology.

Rigetti Computing (RGTI) jumped nearly 19%, while D-Wave (QBTS) rose 7% and Quantum Computing (QUBT) jumped more than 3%. The stocks had fallen the day prior after Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan that “very useful” quantum computing is likely a “decade plus out.”

While Zuckerberg admitted he’s “not really an expert on quantum computing,” his commentary echoed that of Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang last week. Huang told analysts during a Q&A at the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas that practical quantum computing won’t emerge until 15 to 30 years from now — sending quantum stocks tumbling roughly 40%.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance Tuesday, D-Wave’s CEO Alan Baratz refuted the idea that practical uses of the technology are far out and made a dig at Nvidia. 

“We have customers that are using our quantum computers today in support of their business operations, and we have demonstrated the ability to solve important problems in the area of material simulation on our quantum computers today in minutes," he said. "That it would take well over millions of years to solve on classical computers, including massively parallel GPU systems like what Nvidia builds.”

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Quantum computing stocks saw a major upswing in late November and throughout December as growing interest and technological advancements in the sector garnered investor attention.

In November, Amazon (AMZN) launched a quantum computing advisory program. The US government in December introduced a bill that would pledge an additional $2.7 billion for quantum computing research. And Google (GOOG) introduced a new quantum computing chip called Willow.

Baratz dismissed concerns that the boom in quantum computing stocks around that time was in any way reminiscent of the dot-com bubble. “I think quantum is real today,” he said, “And it's just going to become more and more valuable over time.”

Even with D-Wave’s gain Tuesday, the stock is still trading at less than half of its value just two weeks ago. Still, shares are up nearly 440% from last year.

Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.

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