By Mackenzie Tatananni

Quantum stocks tumbled on Friday as D-Wave, Quantum Computing, IonQ and Rigetti Computing failed to extend previous gains.

Shares of Quantum Computing saw the biggest decline, falling 8.9%. IonQ was down 3.3%, while Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum fell 7.3% and 6.5%, respectively.

The same stocks rallied earlier this week after Microsoft unveiled its "Quantum Ready" initiative, a training program meant to familiarize business leaders with quantum systems.

The latest decline shouldn't surprise investors because the stocks are usually volatile. They saw double-digit percentage decreases after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week that " very useful" and " practical" quantum computing would be decades away.

Shares of Rigetti Computing climbed from 66 cents in September to a record intraday high of $21.42 on Jan. 8, only to fall more than 45% since then.

Analysts have urged Wall Street to be patient and prepare to play the long game. Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, told Barron's that quantum's rising stars are still "early in their life cycle." IonQ, for one, expects to be profitable by 2030.

The top executives at quantum computing companies remain upbeat. D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz and IonQ CEO Peter Chapman have stressed that their quantum systems are being used by customers today.

D-Wave announced Jan. 10 that fiscal year 2024 bookings were expected to surpass $23 million, jumping roughly 120% from the prior year.

And while it may take smaller companies some time to turn a profit, they aren't the only ones investing in quantum research and development. Established tech giants, Alphabet and IBM included, have shown an appetite for the technology.

Alphabet's Google reached a milestone in December when it unveiled its Willow quantum chip. Researchers achieved an exponential reduction in the error rate as they tested increasingly large grids of qubits, indicating that "useful, very large quantum computers can indeed be built."

"Willow brings us closer to running practical, commercially-relevant algorithms that can't be replicated on conventional computers," the company said in a blog post.

Even before Microsoft announced its Quantum Ready program, it had other initiatives in the pipeline. The company launched Azure Quantum, its cloud-based quantum computing platform, in 2021, offering access to software and hardware solutions as well as "a network of leading quantum researchers and developers."

IBM is widely regarded as a leader in quantum computing. The IBM Quantum Platform, formerly called IBM Quantum Experience, made its debut in 2016. It provides access to IBM's cloud-based quantum computing services.

There are further developments on the horizon, too. IBM has pledged to "demonstrate the first quantum-centric supercomputer" in 2025. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2025 13:29 ET (18:29 GMT)

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