May 22 - Quantum computing stocks rallied Thursday, led by a sharp gain in IonQ (IONQ, Financial), after the company's CEO said it aims to become the “Nvidia of quantum computing,” according to a Barron's interview.
IonQ surged more than 18% in morning trading following comments from CEO Niccolo de Masi, who said the company is driving a quantum ecosystem much like Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) and Broadcom operate in classical GPU markets. He added that competitors are "copying and following" IonQ's lead.
The remarks lifted interest across the sector. Quantum Computing (QUBT, Financial) climbed about 8%, while D-Wave Quantum (QBTS, Financial) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI, Financial) each jumped roughly 15%.
Investor enthusiasm for quantum computing has grown since Google (GOOGL, Financial) introduced its Willow chip last year. That momentum has continued as Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) and Amazon (AMZN) rolled out quantum chip initiatives of their own.
