For the fourth day in a row, IonQ (IONQ +19.13%) stock is flying.
Shares of the biggest name in quantum computing systems (IonQ is worth more than $13 billion, nearly as much as Rigetti Computing (RGTI +11.97%), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +19.62%), and Quantum Computing (QUBT +14.55%) combined) soared 16.2% through 10:50 a.m. ET Wednesday on a slew of good news.
Image source: Getty Images.
First up: DARPA
As my fellow Fool Keith Noonan pointed out yesterday, IonQ just won a contract to develop advanced quantum-computing systems for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA -- the Pentagon's mad scientists division).
IonQ didn't say how much the Heterogeneous Architectures for Quantum (HARQ) program will be worth to it, and admittedly, DARPA contracts can be very small to start with. They can also get very big over time, however. DARPA, if you recall... invented the Internet.
Next up: Nvidia
The other big news moving IonQ stock this week comes straight out of Nvidia (NVDA +0.39%), which yesterday unveiled its Nvidia Ising AI model for controlling quantum computers. Nvidia says its new AI can correct quantum computer output errors up to 3x faster than traditional approaches.
NYSE: IONQ
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What does this mean for IonQ stock?
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's goal is to make Nvidia's AI semiconductor chips "essential to making quantum computing practical," and thereby shoehorn Nvidia into a quantum computing market estimated to be worth $11 billion annually by 2030.
That's good news for Nvidia investors. But if Nvidia Ising can also reduce errors and make quantum computing more reliable, it may be great news for quantum stocks like IonQ as well.
Tune in to find out just how good things may get after market close on May 6, when IonQ is due to report its Q1 2026 earnings.
