Bread is great. Meat -- or the vegetarian filling of your choice -- is great, too. But it was the Earl of Sandwich who married the two in the 1700s to create the sandwich as we know it.

The race to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing doesn't require the ingenuity of an English nobleman. Today, tech leaders are racing to incorporate the two technologies to revolutionize computing abilities.

While Nvidia (NVDA -2.26%) is often recognized as an AI industry stalwart, the company is also helping to advance quantum computing, making it a smart choice for those interested in gaining simultaneous exposure to the two burgeoning industries.

AI symbol on a digital circuitboard.

Image source: Getty Images.

The company for all AI seasons

It's hard to overestimate Nvidia's position as an AI leader, since it has a hand in the varying niches of the AI field. Nvidia AI Foundry, for example, offers customers an end-to-end platform and service for constructing custom generative AI models, including large language models and AI chatbots. Additionally, Nvidia AI Enterprise provides a cloud-native suite of software tools, libraries, and frameworks.

Nvidia's graphic processing units (GPUs) provide the backbone for its AI proficiency. The company's latest GPU architecture, Nvidia Blackwell, is in high demand from data centers, where AI computing occurs. Earlier in July, hyperscaler CoreWeave announced that it was "the first cloud provider to deliver this groundbreaking GPU architecture for AI, graphics, and high-performance computing workloads."

Like CoreWeave, hyperscaler peer Nebius is rolling out availability to Blackwell architecture to customers, and the company is, unsurprisingly, extremely enthusiastic. In June, Nebius announced that the Blackwell architecture was now available to customers in Europe. With respect to the United States, Nebius is developing a data center in New Jersey that the company plans on singularly dedicating to Nvidia Blackwell-architecture GPUs.

Making the quantum leap

Unlike companies such as IonQ and Rigetti Computing, which are building actual quantum computers, Nvidia is taking a different -- though necessary -- tack to advancing the nascent field. For one, Nvidia is building a research center in Boston that will integrate its Nvidia GB200 Grace Blackwell superchip (providing advanced AI computing) with quantum computing hardware. The result will be accelerated quantum supercomputing that Nvidia says "will help solve quantum computing's most challenging problems, ranging from qubit noise to transforming experimental quantum processors into practical devices." A qubit is the basic unit of information in quantum computing.

Providing 2,020 of its H100 GPUs interconnected by its Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking platform to Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Nvidia is also playing a pivotal role in facilitating progress at the ABC1-Q, the world's largest research supercomputer dedicated to quantum computing. In addition, the system is integrated with Nvidia CUDA-Q, an open-source hybrid computing platform that assists hardware and software to conduct enormous quantum computing applications.

Speaking to the collaboration between Nvidia and the AIST, Tim Costa, Nvidia's senior director of computer-aided engineering, quantum and CUDA-X, was quoted as saying:

Seamlessly coupling quantum hardware with AI supercomputing will accelerate realizing the promise of quantum computing for all. Nvidia's collaboration with AIST will catalyze progress in areas like quantum error correction and applications development -- crucial for building useful, accelerated quantum supercomputers.

Is Nvidia a no-brainer buy today for AI and quantum computing exposure?

There are several AI leaders and a handful of quantum computing pioneers, however, Nvidia is one of the very few companies developing technologies for both tech fields. This makes it an obvious consideration for those interested in a single investment that provides exposure to both corners of the tech industry.

Taking a quick look at the stock's valuation, investors may conclude that shares are pricey now, trading at roughly 56 times trailing earnings. It's important to recognize, though, that Nvidia's position as a semiconductor and AI powerhouse has led to it commanding a higher valuation -- it's five-year average trailing P/E is 70.

Therefore, investors shouldn't dismiss the stock as unattractively valued. And though there may be bumps in the road as these two fields mature, Nvidia is an excellent choice for investors looking to be in position to prosper from the growth of AI and quantum computing.