Some things come in pairs. Chopsticks, gloves, salt and pepper, socks, and cartoon characters Tom and Jerry come to mind. Unfortunately, so does investing in quantum computing stocks and a high level of risk.
While quantum computing is highly promising, it's still a largely unproven technology. Several of the small, high-flying quantum computing stocks on the market could become even bigger winners over the next several years -- or they could go bust.
Want to invest in quantum computing without the crazy risk? Buy these three stocks.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Alphabet
Alphabet's (GOOG 0.66%) (GOOGL 0.78%) Google Quantum AI (artificial intelligence) has achieved two major quantum computing milestones in recent years. In 2019, its quantum technology solved a problem in 200 seconds that the company said would have taken the world's fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to handle. In 2023, Google Quantum AI made a big breakthrough in quantum error correction.
Make no mistake about it: Alphabet is playing to win in the quantum computing space. But unlike the smaller quantum computing companies, the Google parent is already highly profitable (raking in over $100 billion in earnings last year). Alphabet is also sitting on a cash stockpile of $95 billion, enough to gobble up all the smaller rivals if it wanted to.
Alphabet isn't generating much money from its quantum computing efforts yet. The company's cash cow is still its advertising business, led by Google Search and YouTube. Google Cloud is also the fastest-growing member of the top-tier cloud providers.
Granted, buying Alphabet comes with some risk. Google is appealing two major antitrust lawsuits, and generative AI could eventually threaten the company's search engine dominance. However, these risks aren't as great as those of some quantum computing companies. I think Alphabet will continue to be a big winner for investors over the long run.
2. Microsoft
Like Alphabet's Google Quantum AI, Microsoft (MSFT -0.33%) has accomplished two big milestones on its quantum computing roadmap. In May 2023, it announced a breakthrough that enables the creation of a new type of qubit (the quantum bit that's the basic unit of information in quantum computing). Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced Marjorana 1, a quantum chip that uses the world's first topoconductor (a material that helps create more scalable qubits).
Microsoft's goal is to build a scalable quantum supercomputer in "years, not decades." The company claims that it's "leading the industry with advanced technology that accelerates scientific discovery." For some businesses, those statements might be dismissed as mere hype. But with Microsoft, which made $270 billion in sales over the last 12 months, I wouldn't be so skeptical.
Few companies are as heavily invested in as many high-growth areas as Microsoft. In addition to quantum computing, Microsoft is a leader in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, cybersecurity, and augmented reality/virtual reality.
Investing in Microsoft isn't risk-free. The company could stumble, and/or the stock's valuation (shares trade at 33.4 times forward earnings) could become problematic. But the risks associated with this tech titan are trivial compared to those of a business that's burning through cash.
3. Nvidia
Nvidia (NVDA -0.42%) CEO Jensen Huang sparked a sell-off of quantum computing stocks early this year after stating that quantum computing won't be "very useful" for at least another 15 years. He later backtracked on those comments.
The reality is that Huang's company is investing heavily in quantum computing. Nvidia is building an accelerated quantum research center in Boston. It has also developed CUDA-QX, a collection of libraries and tools to help quantum researchers use Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate their applications. And the company is partnering with many of the world's leading quantum computing pioneers.
Does Nvidia's success hinge on quantum computing fulfilling its potential? Not at all. AI should provide a sufficiently strong tailwind to keep Nvidia's revenue and profits growing for a long time to come.
Sure, Nvidia faces some challenges. Rivals and even customers have developed their own AI chips. Chinese tech company DeepSeek has also raised concerns that the underlying technology of AI models could require significantly fewer GPUs, potentially threatening Nvidia's growth. However, Nvidia's chances of delivering market-beating returns over the next decade still look pretty good, in my view.
