IonQ (IONQ +9.61%) stock jumped 9.5% through 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday after announcing a new "breakthrough" in quantum computing -- and with help from Synopsys (SNPS +0.26%).
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IonQ + Synopsys: Better together?
Synopsys is best known as a maker of software for semiconductor chip design, but this new development goes in a different direction. As IonQ explains, it cooperated with Synopsys to use "quantum algorithms integrated into mainstream engineering software" to accelerate industrial design work -- specifically, designing "complex car and jet engine simulations" -- by up to 14.6%.
And to be honest, this sounds like a problem tailor-made for quantum computing to solve.
"Larger scale simulations, such as those used for virtual crash tests and aerodynamic analysis, can require significant compute resources," explains IonQ. "Those resources are necessary to solve large systems of equations containing hundreds of millions of variables." Because quantum computing solves large numbers of variables simultaneously, it speeds up the testing.
More than that, IonQ says that using quantum can help companies identify which calculations don't need to be solved at all, speeding up the process even further by optimizing the workflow.
NYSE: IONQ
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What this means for IonQ stock
Looked at this way, it seems IonQ's research is using quantum to accelerate traditional computing and make it run more efficiently -- which is probably the best approach given how few quantum computers exist today and how much more traditional compute is out there.
It's less clear, however, how big a benefit this is for IonQ stock. While the research is interesting, the company's press release doesn't mention any specific revenue benefit for IonQ itself. With IonQ still unprofitable and expected to remain so for the foreseeable future, I continue to view IonQ stock as entirely speculative -- maybe good for momentum traders, but unsuitable for traditional investors.
