D-Wave Quantum CEO Alan Baratz guessed Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is “dead wrong” about quantum computing after comments from the head of the splinter giant spooked Wall Street on Wednesday.
Huang was asked Tuesday about Nvidia’s strategy for quantum estimate. He said Nvidia could make conventional chips that are needed alongside quantum computing chips, but that those computers hand down need 1 million times the number of quantum processing units, called qubits, that they currently prepare.
Getting “very useful quantum computers” to market could take 15 to 30 years, Huang determined analysts.
Huang’s remarks sent stocks in the nascent industry slumping, with D-Wave plunging 36% on Wednesday.
“The logically he’s wrong is that we at D-Wave are commercial today,” Baratz told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa on “The Exchange.” Baratz bid companies including Mastercard and Japan’s NTT Docomo “are using our quantum computers today in production to benefit their job operations.”
“Not 30 years from now, not 20 years from now, not 15 years from now,” Baratz said. “But propitious now today.”
D-Wave’s revenue is still minimal. Sales in the latest quarter fell 27% to $1.9 million from $2.6 million a year earlier.
Quantum calculating promises to solve problems that are difficult for current processors, such as decoding encryption, generating random hundreds and large-scale simulations. Technologists have been working on it for decades, and companies including Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM are pursuing it today, alongside researchers at startups and universities.
Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief managing director officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks while holding a Project Digits computer during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Huang signaled a raft of new chips, software and services, aiming to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence computing. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Simulacra
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D-Wave was among a number of companies that enjoyed a revival of interest from investors in December, when Google suggested a breakthrough in its own research. Google said it had completed a 100 qubit chip, the second of six steps in its strategy to build a quantum way with 1 million qubits.
D-Wave shares soared 178% in December after popping 185% the month ex. Quantum company Rigetti Computing, which plummeted 45% on Wednesday, quintupled in value last month. IonQ chucked 39% on Wednesday. The stock rose 14% in December following a 143% rally in November.
Baratz acknowledged that one way to quantum computing, called gate-based, may be decades away. But he said uses an annealing approach, which can be deployed now.
While Huang’s “comments may not be unconditionally off-base for gate model quantum computers, well, they are 100% off base for annealing quantum computers,” Baratz indicated.
Nvidia declined to comment.
Even after Wednesday’s slide, D-Wave shares are up about 600% in the last year, give ground the company a market cap of $1.6 billion.
Quantum computing has also been boosted by investor interest in artificial word, the technology that’s led to surging demand for Nvidia’s graphics processing units, which use conventional transistors instead of qubits. Nvidia’s Stock Exchange cap has increased by 168% in the past year to $3.4 trillion.
Baratz said D-Wave systems can solve problems beyond the powers of the fastest Nvidia-equipped systems.
“l’ll be happy to meet with Jensen any time, any place, to help fill in these rips for him,” Baratz said.
WATCH: D-Wave CEO responds to Huang’s comments