Why the Smartest AI Money Is Quietly Moving Into Quantum Computing Right Now

Key Points

• Quantum computing pure plays like IonQ and Rigetti are showing their first real signals of infrastructure success and meaningful revenue.

• Tech giant Nvidia is focused not on making its own quantum computers, but on software and networking tools that will allow this new technology to integrate effectively with its traditional processors.

• Quantum computing stocks should be viewed as high-risk, long-term optional bets — not core holdings — because their upside potential is big, but the outcomes and timelines for all the competitors involved are highly uncertain.

• 10 stocks we like better than IonQ ›

When it comes to the tech sector, most of the market’s attention (and capital) so far in 2026 has gone toward artificial intelligence (AI) — the makers of chips, networking tools, the electricity to power them, and the data center operators that deploy them. Quantum computing has been more of an afterthought for years, mostly because the technology had not been developed to the point where it could do much that was genuinely useful. Still, some investors have bid up the pure-plays in the space based on speculation about its potential.

That posture is starting to shift, though, and with both retail investors and some of the more disciplined institutional buyers and partners in the AI ecosystem showing enthusiasm.

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What changed with quantum computing

The conversation around quantum computing is shifting gradually from theoretical breakthroughs to commercial traction. This year has brought some of the first clear signs that the technology is moving from research labs into mainstream computing infrastructure.

Image source: Getty Images.

One of the most concrete signals of this came from Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which in March introduced CUDA-Q Realtime, a programming layer that lets developers tightly integrate real-time control of quantum computing hardware with GPU-accelerated decoders. The point is that Nvidia is no longer treating quantum computing as a separate, distant frontier — it is building its own software so that quantum computing processors can be operated as accelerators alongside GPUs in data centers.

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) offers another concrete data point. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $64.7 million and raised its 2026 revenue guidance to the $260 million to $270 million range, with system sales and quantum computing networking contracts driving the upside. Moreover, in April, IonQ disclosed a new breakthrough: It “achieved a foundational technical milestone by photonically interconnecting two independent trapped-ion quantum systems.” This, it said, was “the first demonstration of connected, commercial quantum computers, a critical step toward scaling quantum computation beyond a single processor.”

That’s the kind of engineering result that gets noticed by enterprise customers.

Why this is interesting for AI investors

There are two reasons the smart money is paying attention. The first is that certain types of AI workloads (optimization, sampling, and some machine learning training routines) map better to quantum computing hardware than to silicon, and the cost-per-answer math starts to favor quantum at certain problem sizes. The second is hedging. If a meaningful fraction of AI value over the next decade ends up being processed on quantum computing hardware, then investors with large exposure to AI won’t want to be entirely on one side of that bet.

Another example of a strong quantum computing stock is Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), which reported its Q1 results in late April, and revealed technical milestones for its multichip system. This stock is not a story about financial wins yet, but the order of operations matters: technology milestones come first, then partner integrations, then revenue.

Quantum computing revenue across the space is still tiny relative to AI infrastructure spending. Most of the publicly traded pure plays are not profitable, their technology road maps slip, and any of the many hardware approaches being tried (trapped ion qubits, superconducting qubits, neutral atom qubits) could end up less effective than a competing one. Valuations for companies in the space have also been volatile, with stocks moving by 20% or more on news of individual milestones.

The takeaway

Quantum computing is not the tech sector segment that will attract the most investor dollars in 2026 or 2027. However, a small share of disciplined investment capital is starting to move into this niche because the technology (Nvidia’s software, IonQ’s networking, Rigetti’s multichip designs) is finally starting to catch up to the marketing. Investors who want exposure should start small, size positions appropriately, accept the volatility, and treat their investments as long-duration hedges rather than near-term trades.

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Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.