Quantum computing stocks have emerged as one of 2024’s hottest investment themes, with the Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ: QTUM) soaring 49.4% year to date, nearly doubling the S&P 500‘s robust 24.3% gain. While widespread commercial quantum computers might take years to develop, major technological breakthroughs have sparked an early rush into what many see as the next computing revolution.
The excitement isn’t just speculative hype. Quantum computing achieved two groundbreaking milestones in 2024, suggesting we’re approaching a technological tipping point.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) made history with its Willow quantum computing system, which demonstrated the ability to reduce errors as the number of qubits increases exponentially. This breakthrough solves a challenge that has stumped researchers for nearly 30 years. Even more impressively, Willow completed a benchmark computation in under five minutes that would require today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve — a timespan far greater than the universe’s age.
Meanwhile, quantum computing start-up Infleqtion, working with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), achieved another first by demonstrating a practical materials science application using logical qubits. This breakthrough, which delivered a 6x boost in computational accuracy, hints at quantum computing’s potential to revolutionize everything from battery technology to superconductors.
While quantum computing remains in its infancy, these early breakthroughs, spurred by tech giants Alphabet and Nvidia, suggest we might be at the dawn of a computing revolution. Two companies are pioneering this transformative technology that could supercharge your portfolio in 2025 and beyond.
Trapped-ion quantum computing leader IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) has emerged as one of 2024’s standout quantum computing stocks. The company’s novel approach uses ionized atoms as the heart of its quantum systems, enabling longer and more sophisticated calculations with fewer errors than competing approaches. IonQ’s platform integrates with all major cloud providers and supports multiple programming languages, making quantum computing highly accessible to developers and researchers.
The company’s competitive advantages come from deep academic roots in ion trap technology spanning over 25 years of research and proven commercial traction through government and enterprise partnerships. IonQ has also expanded into quantum networking, working at the intersection of quantum computing and the future quantum internet.
