Nvidia CEO says quantum computing is reaching “an inflection point” and Rigetti Computing stock is up slightly — but down 37% in 2025. Should you buy?

Quantum computing — which uses super-cooled metal to power more calculations per circuit than classical computing can perform — is capturing the attention of investors.

How so? Publicly-traded quantum computing stocks soared Wednesday before reversing direction later in the day. For example, according to Yahoo! Finance

The reason? “Quantum computing is reaching an inflection point,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told a crowd at Nvidia GTC Paris Wednesday, reported Yahoo! Finance. “We are within reach” of using quantum computers for “areas that can solve some interesting problems in the coming years,” Huang added.

This brings up an important observation about the industry: when Jensen Huang talks about quantum computing, people listen. That’s my modern-day twist on the old catchphrase — “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen” — from a TV commercial for the late brokerage firm.

Rigetti is among the most heavily traded public companies on the stock exchange — but should it be? The arguments opposing investor interest seem compelling: the company’s stock has fallen 37% so far in 2025 and its first quarter 2025 financial results fell short of expectations.

Yet if prognosticators such as MIT Lecturer John Ruane are correct, the future of quantum computing could be very bright if certain problems are solved in the next five to ten years, he told me in a June 10 interview.

Meanwhile Rigetti sees a bright future. “We are four to five years from real commercial value of quantum computing,” Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni told Asking For A Trend.

“That’s where the market is really supposed to grow and be large enough where things like sales and EPS start becoming much more critical at that point. At this point, it’s all about technology development and how we are getting the milestones done so that we enable this large $100 plus billion market in the future,” he added.

Huang’s views on QC have evolved significantly this year. He went from saying in January QC could be 15 to 30 years away from offering practical solutions to business problems, noted Investopedia, to seeing QC at an inflection point on June 11.

During the interim, in March Huang announced a bet on a Boston-area research center to help Nvidia overcome the impediments to realizing the technology’s potential, I wrote in my March Forbes post.

At the moment, QC is based on fragile hardware and error rates that are unacceptably high for most practical applications. Classical computers rely on linear algebra, noted Yahoo! Finance.

QCs, however, have far more processing capability because they apply quantum mechanics and advanced mathematics — making them amenable to solving problems in “cybersecurity, cryptography, and chemistry,” reported Yahoo! Finance.

Perhaps Huang was motivated to make his Wednesday remarks by IBM — which on June 10 announced plans to launch in 2029 a large-scale QC capable of “operating without errors,” according to IEEE Spectrum.

Google released a quantum computing chip called Willow in December, saying the technology "paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer," noted Yahoo! Finance. While Amazon and Microsoft announced two quantum chips in February.

Compared to these recent announcements, Huang’s remarks were relatively content free.

Meanwhile, Rigetti seems to have relatively little capital compared to these tech giants. What’s more, the company says it is years away from being little more than a technology researcher hoping for a breakthrough from which the company can generate revenues.

Rigetti’s first quarter 2025 results were disappointing. The company’s $1.5 million in revenue for the quarter fell more than 42% short of expectations while earnings per share of 13 cents missed by 84%, according to Google Finance.

Rigetti’s net profit was less then met the eye in the first quarter. The company reported a $42.6 million profit, “driven mainly by non-cash gains tied to financial instruments,” noted Quantum Insider. As Rigetti ramped up utility-scale quantum systems, the company revealed a $21.6 million operating loss.

One thing helping Rigetti is the 970% increase in the company’s stock price in the last year. The company has wisely capitalized on that increase to sell $350 million in common stock — boosting its cash balance to about $570 million, according to Investing.com.

Perhaps this cash will shore up the company’s finances over the next four or five years as a hoped-for increase in revenue ultimately emerges.

Ruane sees a path for QC to value for business leaders. “Quantum computing breakthroughs in science and engineering will make the tool more valuable for business,” he told me in a June 10 interview.

“Better error correction algorithms will make QC less expensive and more consistent. Better performance will increase QC’s commercial viability. Google’s Willow chip showed big improvements in error correction,” he added.

Different technical experts must collaborate for QC to solve real world business problems well. “Engineering larger systems — including the chip and the surrounding infrastructure — that work together can improve QC’s value to business,” he explained.

“Google and IBM will operate across a range of innovations to build powerful hardware platforms. Software startups will develop technology which venture capitalists will find amenable.”

Ecosystems will be essential if the U.S. wants to lead the world in QC. “Universities like MIT and Harvard will collaborate with large companies and startups to build ecosystems,” Ruane told me.

“Nvidia’s Boston-based Accelerated Quantum Research Center is a good example. In May 2025, a new act was proposed — the quantum sandbox — which aims to help create QC ecosystems,” he added.

Problems with hardware and algorithms will need to be solved before achieving quantum advantage — where quantum surpasses classical computing. “QC has the potential to make pharmaceutical development more efficient. This is not certain. There is a need to focus on hardware and algorithms. MIT and Harvard have algorithm developers like Aram Harrow,” he explained.

It remains to be seen which problems will be more amenable to QC than classical computing. “It is unclear whether QC will help make large language models easier to train and operate. Who could know what AI would end up doing?”

He does not envision a handheld QC. “There will never be a day when every person can have their own quantum computer — due to the physics. The use cases of QC are also unclear. QC may be operating more like supercomputers in hybrid clouds with classical computers. Everybody could end up using QC through apps powered by the hybrid cloud.”

Business leaders will need new skills to take advantage of QC. Executives must “learn how to reimagine solutions to previously unsolvable business problems using QC. This could be in areas such as logistics where a company is trying to optimize its supply chain.”

If quantum advantage is near, will Rigetti be able to capitalize on it — or will IBM, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft get the lion’s share?