3 Quantum Stocks Just Scored $100 Million in Government Funding. Which Is the Best to Buy Now?

The race to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer has been ongoing, and the stakes are high. The technology is expected to be the next big advancement after artificial intelligence, and the U.S. government wants to make sure that a U.S.-based company is leading the way. As such, the government recently doled out $100 million each to three quantum stocks under the CHIPS Act.

Which stock is the best buy will largely be determined by their technology and how far along each is. Let's dig into the three stocks to see which one stands out.

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1. Rigetti Computing

One of the companies getting $100 million in government funding is Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI). As part of the deal, the U.S. government will also take a stake in the company.

The money will be used to help accelerate superconducting quantum research and improve current technical bottlenecks. The company specifically laid out three projects it will help fund. They include shrinking chip control electronics, massively expanding super-cooling freezer capacity, and manufacturing higher-density quantum chips.

The strength of the superconducting technology that Rigetti employs has always been speed. Its systems are about 10,000 times faster than trapped-ion systems and 100 times faster than neutral-atom systems. Where they struggle, though, is with accuracy, which is one of the most important hurdles that quantum computers need to overcome. While companies like IonQ have achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity (accuracy), Rigetti greatly trails with its Cepheus 1-108Q systems only hitting 99.1% two-gate fidelity.

2. D-Wave Quantum

Another company getting $100 million in U.S. government funding in exchange for giving the government an equity stake is D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS). The company will use the money to help develop and scale its annealing and gate-model quantum systems.

D-Wave is the leader in quantum annealing, which is a more narrow-purpose technology that helps solve optimization problems. The technology is much further along than more wide-ranging gate-based systems, and the company is already selling its Advantage II systems to commercial customers in industries such as logistics, finance, and defense.

At the same time, D-Wave has also started to pursue a gate-based system following its acquisition of Quantum Circuits earlier this year, which gave it a dual-rail gate-model processor with built-in error detection. For its systems, it will use fluxonium qubits, which are a type of superconducting qubit that has similar properties to those it uses for its annealing technology. D-Wave's goal is to create a system with the speed of superconducting and the accuracy of trapped ions, but it is still very early in the process.

3. Quantinuum

A third company getting a $100 million check from the government is Quantinuum (NASDAQ: QNT), although it did not have to give up an equity stake.

Quantunuum will use the proceeds to work with GlobalFoundries and Monarch Quantum to improve its supply chain. GlobalFoundries will be one of several foundries to produce its next-generation ion traps using 300mm wafer technology, while Monarch will develop and manufacture lasers and optical components for Quantunuum's trapped-ion systems.

The trapped-ion approach, while slower, has proven to be the most accurate quantum technology to-date. Quantunuum has achieved 99.92% two-qubit gate fidelity and is looking to reach 99.999% logical fidelity with its new Sol system next year.

Meanwhile, the company is considered to have one of the best software stacks in the space. This includes its open-source quantum computing language Guppy that does advanced error correction directly in the code and its TKET quantum software development kit that acts as a universal translator.

The verdict

The quantum computing race is far from over, and which technology eventually comes out on top is still up in the air. That said, I'd be betting on accuracy over speed at this point, which is why I prefer Quantinuum. The company is an accuracy leader and already starting to see meaningful revenue growth. Backed by industrial giant Honeywell, Quantunuum's stock has a lot of potential.

Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Globalfoundries, Honeywell Technologies, and IonQ. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.