Quantum computing stocks drop as Nvidia CEO says decades away from usefulness

Shares of quantum computing firms fell in aftermarket trading on Tuesday after comments from NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang suggested that the technology was decades away from being useful.

IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ), D Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Inc (NYSE:QBTS), QuantumSi Inc (NASDAQ:QSI), Quantum Computing Inc (NASDAQ:QUBT), and Rigetti Computing Inc (NASDAQ:RGTI) fell between 3% and 15% following Huang’s comments. The stocks had also fallen during Tuesday’s session amid a broader technology rout.

Speaking at an investor meeting, Nvidia’s Huang said that quantum computing was still niche in its applications, and that the technology was at least 20 years away from being useful.

“If you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that’d probably be on the early side. If you said 30 is probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it,” Huang said, answering a question from Evercore’s Mark Lipacis.

Quantum computing technology- which exploits quantum mechanical formula to solve complex computing problems- is still seen as largely in a nascent stage, given the physical challenges involved in successfully manipulating quantum phenomena.

Huang also highlighted some of these challenges, while noting that quantum computing could not solve “every problem.”

He noted that the technology still required classical computing to perform error corrections, which complemented Nvidia’s technology.

“Just about every quantum computing company in the world is working with us now,” Huang said.

Proponents of quantum computing have touted it as the next major breakthrough in computing technology.

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Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) recently said it had overcome a key challenge in quantum computing with a new chip, although the technology was still years away from being implemented practically.