D-Wave quantum – said CEO Alan Baratz Nvidia Jensen Huang is “totally wrong” on quantum computing after comments from the chip giant's chief executive on Wednesday spooked Wall Street.
On Tuesday, Huang was asked about Nvidia's quantum computing strategy. He said Nvidia could produce conventional chips that would be needed alongside quantum computing chips, but those computers would need a million times the number of quantum computing units, called qubits, that they currently have.
Huang told analysts that it could take 15 to 30 years to bring “very useful quantum computers” to market.
Huang's comments caused shares of the nascent industry to plummet, including D wave falling On Wednesday, 36%.
“The reason he's wrong is because today at D-Wave we're in a commercial business,” Baratz told CNBC's Deirdre Bosa on “The Exchange.” Baratz said companies including MasterCard and Japanese company NTT Docomo are “using our quantum computers in manufacturing today to benefit their business operations.”
“Not in 30 years, not in 20 years, not in 15 years,” Baratz said. – But now, today.
D-Wave's revenues are still minimal. Sale in last quarter dropped 27% to $1.9 million from $2.6 million a year earlier.
Quantum computing holds the promise of solving problems that are difficult for current processors, such as encryption decoding, random number generation, and large-scale simulations. Technologists have been working on this for several decades, and companies including: Nvidia, Microsoft AND IBM they are doing this today together with researchers from start-ups and universities.
Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Corp., speaks while holding a Project Digits computer during the CES 2025 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Huang announced a range of new chips, software and services aimed at staying at the forefront of artificial intelligence-based computing. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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D-Wave was among the companies that enjoyed renewed investor interest in December Google announced a breakthrough in her research. Google announced that it has completed work on a 100-qubit chip the second of six steps in its strategy to build a quantum system consisting of 1 million qubits.
D-Wave shares surged 178% in December after hitting 185% a month earlier. Quantum company Rejects processingwhich fell 45% on Wednesday, has quintupled in the past month. IonQ dropped 39% on Wednesday. The company's shares rose 14% in December after rising 143% in November.
Baratz admitted that one approach to quantum computing, called gate-based, could emerge in a few decades. However, he said he uses an annealing approach that can be used now.
While “Huang's comments may not be completely out of step with gate-model quantum computers, well, they are 100% out of step with the principles of annealed quantum computers,” Baratz said.
Nvidia declined to comment.
Even after Wednesday's decline, D-Wave shares are up about 600% in the past year, giving the company a market capitalization of $1.6 billion.
Quantum computing has also been boosted by investor interest in artificial intelligence, a technology that has led to growing demand for Nvidia's graphics processors, which use conventional transistors instead of qubits. Nvidia's market capitalization increased 168% last year to $3.4 trillion.
Baratz said D-Wave systems can solve problems beyond the capabilities of the fastest Nvidia-powered systems.
“I will be happy to meet with Jensen anytime, anywhere to help him fill these gaps,” Baratz said.
TO WATCH: D-Wave CEO responds to Huang's comments