D-Wave CEO Says Jensen Huang’s Comments ‘100% Off Base:’ Stocktwits Poll Shows Retail Divided Over Outlook For Quantum Computing Industry Prospects
By Stocktwits Inc | First Published Jan 10, 2025, 7:31 AM ISTD-Wave CEO Alan Baratz said the company’s powerful annealing quantum computing solutions are already available and are being used for solving real-world problems of businesses, researchers and governments.
After Nvidia Corp. ($NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang triggered a sell-off in quantum computing stocks on Wednesday, D-Wave Quantum, Inc. ($QBTS) CEO Alan Baratz talked up the industry’s prospects in an interview with CNBC.
Releasing excerpts of the interview on Thursday, D-Wave noted that its CEO said the company’s powerful annealing quantum computing solutions are already available and are being used for solving real-world problems of businesses, researchers and governments.
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Baratz noted that there are different quantum computing solutions, with some maturing faster than others. He added that among the different approaches to quantum, annealing and gate are the two primary approaches.
The executive said Huang’s comments may not be totally off base for gate model quantum computers, they are 100% off base for annealing quantum computers. “When it comes to D-Wave annealing quantum computing, he is dead wrong,” Baratz said.
In an Analyst event held late Tuesday, Huang poured cold water on the optimism regarding quantum computing by stating that it might take 15 to 30 years to develop very useful quantum computers, with 20 years being a more credible timeframe.
Baratz said, “We are not 30 years out, we're not 20 years out, we're not 15 years out. We are today. We are supporting businesses today with quantum compute to solve their hard problems.”
According to D-Wave’s CEO, the company has been able to solve problems on its quantum computer in the area of materials simulation in minutes, which otherwise would take more than millions of years to solve on massively parallel graphic processing unit (GPU) computers.
D-Wave said annealing quantum computing is emerging as the critical accelerant to commercial adoption of quantum computing. It believes that nearly every industry can benefit from annealing quantum computing technology.
Quantum annealing, which uses quantum mechanics to solve optimization problems, relies on the process of annealing that involves heating, soaking and cooling a material to improve its properties.
Baratz’ comments, which temporarily lifted retail sentiment toward D-Wave stock following the interview, haven’t been successful in producing a lasting impact.
On Stocktwits, the sentiment meter read 35/100, suggesting a return of ‘bearish’ mood toward D-Wave after it improved to ‘bullish’ a day ago. Message volume has tapered off from ‘extremely high’ levels to ‘normal.’
An ongoing Stocktwits poll that sought opinions from retail watchers of quantum computing stocks on the platform said, views are divided. About 44% of the respondents said they would be bullish and considered Tuesday’s move as merely a ‘dip.’
A sizeable 32% said the technology is in its nascent stage and the hype about quantum computing stocks is fading. Fifteen percent said they were staying out, considering quantum computing investments as risky and 9% voted that they would trade the swings despite their views that these stocks are speculative investments.
D-Wave stock fell 36.13% to $6.10 on Tuesday but climbed 6.39% in the after-hours session.
The stock had surged up by 855% in 2024 but is down over 27% so far this year.
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