Researchers, some publicly traded companies, and many investors are betting that quantum computing could be the next big tech wave. But we're still in the early innings, which makes pure-play quantum computing stocks like IonQ and D-Wave Quantum largely speculative bets. Some estimates suggest practical use cases may still be many years away.
That said, investors don't need to wait. Leading technology companies already benefit from massive trends like artificial intelligence -- and they're shaping up to be key quantum computing players as well. Here are three of the best.
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1. Nvidia
Nvidia (NVDA +4.30%) is already a well-known semiconductor leader, with tech companies integrating its chips into their advanced data centers for artificial intelligence. It's no surprise, then, that the company has been moving toward quantum computing solutions recently as well.
Nvidia's GPUs are some of the most advanced processors available, and the company is combining them with quantum computing hardware from Quantum Machines, a small startup, to create DGX Quantum for researchers. The hope is that these hybrid machines will help scientific advances accelerate artificial intelligence learning.
The company also has a software platform called CUDA-Q. It's a software platform with a goal of being qubit-modality agnostic -- which means it can work with different kinds of quantum hardware -- and also supporting hybrid computing systems.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said earlier this year that "Quantum computing is reaching an inflection point," and with its lead in AI and semiconductors, Nvidia is well positioned to benefit as the industry matures.
NASDAQ: NVDA
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2. Microsoft
You might be surprised to know that Microsoft (MSFT +2.11%) has emerged as an important player in the nascent quantum computing market. The company has made some key advancements in this space recently, it's most significant being the creation of its Majorana 1 processor, what it calls a topoconductor (topological superconductor).
The company says the Majorana quantum computing processor can create stable and rapid qubits -- a unit of processing measurement for quantum computers -- that work better than some alternative systems. The goal is to reach 1 million qubits on just one chip, and Microsoft says the new processor helps reduce the timeline for useful quantum computers by years.
It's also worth mentioning that as one of the leading cloud computing companies -- with 20% of the market -- Microsoft already offers some quantum computing cloud services to customers. It partners with IonQ and Rigetti Computing to offer the services, which can currently be used for research.
NASDAQ: MSFT
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3. Alphabet
Alphabet (GOOG +1.44%) (GOOGL +1.63%) has taken a similar approach to Microsoft and developed its own quantum computing processor, called Willow. The company announced the chip in late 2024, saying that Willow helped solve an enduring problem for quantum computing -- lots of errors -- and that it reduced them "exponentially."
In addition to Willow, Alphabet's Google also has an advanced research company called DeepMind. It worked with Google's Quantum AI division to create a machine learning system that corrects quantum computing errors. This AlphaQubit system outperforms similar decoding processes, helping to make quantum computing outcomes more accurate.
And just like Microsoft, Alphabet's Google Cloud also offers quantum computing services. As quantum computing develops in the coming years and becomes cheaper and more efficient, Alphabet's position as the No. 3 cloud computing company could be a significant benefit.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
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Ride the AI wave before the quantum computing one comes along
What's great about owning the stocks above is that they're all benefiting from the current AI boom that's underway, and they'll likely continue to do so for years to come. For example, Nvidia's CFO believes tech companies will invest up to $4 trillion over the next five years building out artificial intelligence data centers, and Morgan Stanley estimates AI cloud computing revenue could reach $2 trillion by 2030.
That means Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet have lots of potential to continue benefiting from AI as they develop their quantum computing offerings in the coming years -- giving investors exposure to both of these dominant tech trends.
