Quantum stocks like Rigetti plunge after Nvidia's Huang says the computers are 15 to 30 years away

Quantum computing stocks dropped Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared that useful quantum computers are many years away.

"If you said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side," he said during Nvidia's analyst day. "If you said 30, it's probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it."

Huang said he believes Nvidia will play a "very significant part" in creating the computers and helping the industry "get there as fast as possible."

Stocks tied to quantum computing tumbled on the heels of the comments, with Rigetti Computing plunging 40%, while IonQ shed more than 32%. D-Wave Quantum dropped more than 38%, while the Defiance Quantum & AI ETF fell 5%. Quantum Computing, which announced a stock offering to raise $100 million, sank 39%.

The sector had gotten a lift into the end of 2024 as excitement around quantum computing exploded after Google revealed its latest Willow chip, which it said performed better than its 2019 predecessor at reducing errors. Many investors also hoped that the sector would be the next big technology craze since the rise of AI in the wake of ChatGPT.

The excitement boosted shares into year-end, with Rigetti and D-Wave rallying 1,449% and 854%, respectively.

Supporters of quantum computing say the technology will be able to perform computing tasks regular computers can't, and process far larger volumes of data.

But many investors have warned that it may be too early to rule out proper winners in the sector and real-world use cases for the technology.