The stock market roared higher last year, and some of the biggest gainers operate in one specific field: artificial intelligence (AI). The technology promises to revolutionize many industries -- from healthcare to automobiles -- with innovations such as AI-powered medical devices and autonomous driving systems. And AI already is helping companies gain in efficiency thanks to tools like AI agents and AI-powered robots.
But AI isn't the only transformative technology around. Another potentially game-changing area has been gaining attention in recent times: quantum computing. Many companies -- from smaller players focusing on this technology alone to technology giants with vast businesses -- are operating in this space.
Quantum computing is stirring up excitement in the investment community because, like AI, it could offer companies a huge boost when it comes to innovation and efficiency. All of this is positive for the earnings growth and stock performance of quantum computing companies and their customers.
So, it's a great idea to get in early on this market-moving technology -- and you can do so by investing in just one player today. Here's my top quantum computing stock to buy right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
What is quantum computing?
First, though, you might ask this question: What exactly is quantum computing? This technology relies on the principles of quantum mechanics, describing how subatomic particles move and interact in nature. Quantum computers use these ideas to compute probabilities and solve complex problems that would take classical computers much longer -- we're talking minutes for the quantum computer, versus thousands of years for the classical computer.
Quantum computers can do this because they don't operate in the same way as classical ones. Instead of using bits to store and process data, they use qubits. Bits can store only one value -- a zero or a one. But qubits can store a zero, a one, or a combination of both at the same moment. This means when you combine qubits, they'll scale exponentially, and this leads to processing speed. Scientists create qubits through the measuring of particles like photons or electrons.
It's clear this is a very complex process, and quantum computers still have a long way to go before they become a commonly used tool. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang recently said at CES that we're still about 20 years away from "very useful" quantum computers.
Still, companies are making exciting progress in this technology, and investors have rewarded this by piling into quantum computing stocks. For example, Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing shares have soared more than 1,000% over the past year.
A profitable quantum player
Now, let's check out my favorite quantum computing stock to buy right now. Considering this technology itself could remain in the development stages for quite some time, I think it's a great idea to buy shares of a company that is involved in quantum computing -- but generates revenue and profit through another business today.
This company is Alphabet (GOOG +0.41%) (GOOGL +0.66%). You probably know it best thanks to Google Search -- the most popular search engine worldwide -- and its entire Google platform. And advertising across Google makes up the lion's share of Alphabet's billion-dollar revenue. Google also has a cloud computing unit, Google Cloud, which has been delivering double-digit revenue growth.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
On top of this, Alphabet is showing itself to be a potential leader in quantum computing. Last month, the company introduced Willow, its quantum computing chip.
Willow attracted the market's attention because it reached two major milestones: The chip showed it can decrease errors exponentially as a system scales up using more qubits -- generally in quantum computing, the problem has been that this sort of scale-up increases errors. And Willow solved a problem in less than five minutes that would take a classical computer 10 septillion years -- that's a one followed by 25 zeros.
The company's next step is to show the usefulness of quantum computing for real-world problems -- and Alphabet says the Willow generation of chips may help do this job.
A multibillion-dollar market
So, Alphabet offers investors today the opportunity to get in on the high-growth and promising area of quantum computing -- a market that will create as much as $850 billion in economic value by 2040, according to the Boston Consulting Group. At the same time, your investment in Alphabet offers you the security of a profitable company that's already established itself as a tech leader.
And Alphabet stock looks dirt cheap today, trading for 22x forward earnings estimates. All of this makes this tech giant my top quantum computing stock to buy now and hold onto as this explosive technology develops.
