For the better part of the last three decades, investors have had a game-changing innovation to capture their attention and wallets. Typically, these next-big-thing trends are singular events — but this isn’t always the case.
In addition to artificial intelligence (AI) dominating headlines, investors have been privy to the advent and early stage proliferation of quantum computing. Though AI stock gains have been impressive, many can’t hold a candle to the trailing 12-month (TTM) returns of pure-play quantum computing stocks IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS). As of mid-October, Rigetti’s TTM gain was over 6,200%!
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While these pure-play stocks have given investors plenty of reason to be excited about the future of this technology, institutional investors and hedge funds sent an unmistakable (and decisively sour) message to shareholders of IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave.
Big numbers tend to get investors excited. If three- and four-digit TTM percentage returns didn’t do it, the addressable potential for quantum computers likely did. Analysts at Boston Consulting Group foresee this technology creating $450 billion to $850 billion in global economic value by 2040. Meanwhile, online blog The Quantum Insider has an even more optimistic ceiling of $1 trillion in global valuation creation for quantum computing by 2035.
Even if these estimates prove too lofty, there’s no denying the long-term potential of this technology or the high-ceiling addressable market it entails.
Investors have been enamored with the real-world use cases of quantum computers. While this is by no means a comprehensive list, the most exciting applications include the accelerated training of AI algorithms, the improvement of cybersecurity platforms, and running molecular interaction simulations to improve the drug development…
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