Quantum stocks surge on Nvidia AI model announcement

Quantum stocks climbed on Thursday, adding to a massive week-to-date rally fueled by enthusiasm for Nvidia‘s new open-source artificial intelligence models designed to advance the burgeoning computing technology.

Since the start of the week, IonQ shares have skyrocketed over 50%, as have shares of D-Wave Quantum. Quantum Computing and Rigetti Computing have surged more than 30% each.

The rally comes on the heels of Nvidia’s unveiling of Ising, a new family of open-source models aimed at accelerating the adoption of quantum computing.

“AI is essential to making quantum computing practical,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. “With Ising, AI becomes the control plane — the operating system of quantum machines — transforming fragile qubits to scalable and reliable quantum-GPU systems.”

Nvidia explained further in a press release that Ising “provides high-performance, scalable AI tools for quantum error correction and calibration — two of the most critical challenges in building hybrid-quantum classical systems.”

The chip giant named Ising after a famous mathematical model.

Nvidia’s announcement aired on what’s become known as “World Quantum Day,” ever since an international group of scientists announced in 2021 that April 14th should be used to promote public awareness of quantum technology.

The date was chosen because 4.14 represents the first three digits of a key concept in quantum physics known as the Planck constant.

Tuesday also marked Nvidia’s longest winning streak since 2023, with shares up 18% over ten days.

Proponents tout quantum computing as a transformative technology that can accelerate drug discovery and solve problems impossible to answer on everyday computers.

The U.S. government and technology giants are investing heavily in advancing quantum computing.

Over the last few years, hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon have announced chips to power the futuristic tools. IBM is racing to develop the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.

But the market remains small, with the largest names accounting for around $31 billion in market value ahead of Thursday’s open.

The sector is also susceptible to wide swings due to its speculative nature, and many stocks have slumped year to date. D-Wave and Rigetti have dropped 18% and 12%, respectively.

IonQ also made news on Tuesday. The Maryland-based company said it linked two remote quantum computers, which it called a “foundational technical milestone.” Separately, the company landed a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

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CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that IBM is developing the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer…