2 Millionaire-Maker Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist

Quantum computing stocks have more potential than nearly any other sector to turn investors into millionaires. While some may point to artificial intelligence (AI) as a sector where that's possible, late IPOs from giants like Anthropic and OpenAI have robbed individual investors of that chance, as these two have opted to go public much later in the game at multitrillion-dollar valuations, rather than early on when they could have easily provided investors with 10x or greater opportunities.

Fortunately for investors, several smaller quantum computing companies are already public, and I've got my eyes on one with millionaire-maker potential. However, putting all of your eggs in one basket is never a smart investment approach. I've got another stock that could deliver monster returns from both AI and quantum computing, and it's a wild-card pick you'll never see coming.

The stocks? IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).

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IonQ has a unique plan for quantum computing

IonQ is a relatively small company and has a valuation of about $17 billion. So, if the company rises 100-fold, it would be a $1.7 trillion business. That's not an outlandish projection, though I seriously doubt it will happen unless quantum computing completely replaces traditional computing (it won't).

Still, IonQ could deliver strong returns in the 10x range depending on how widespread adoption of quantum computing goes.

The question isn't if quantum computing can be done; it can. It's whether the results are accurate enough to be usable.

This is a major hurdle the industry must clear, and IonQ has the leading technology to do it. It holds the world record for quantum computing accuracy, with a 99.99% 2-qubit gate fidelity. Most firms are sitting at the 99.9% range, which doesn't sound like a huge improvement.

However, a 99.99% score indicates one error in 10,000 tries, while a 99.9% score indicates an error every 1,000 operations. That's a huge difference, and with IonQ's new 256-qubit computer employing this technology, the world's first viable quantum computer could be hitting the market soon.

This could have major implications for the stock, sending it skyrocketing and making it one of the best high-risk, high-reward investment options in the quantum computing market. However, I also think Nvidia is a genius backdoor play in the quantum computing realm and provides serious upside from AI now.

Nvidia is a sneaky quantum computing play

Nvidia has already told investors that it isn't developing a quantum processing unit, so firms like IonQ don't need to be scared of it entering the quantum computing arms race. Nvidia believes that the future of quantum computing lies in a hybrid approach, where quantum and traditional computing run side by side, with one system handing off calculations to the other as necessary.

Nvidia wants to ensure its computing units are used alongside quantum computers in this hybrid approach, so it has developed several products to facilitate this. First, it evolved its leading CUDA software to include quantum computing operations, renaming the product CUDA-Q. Then it launched its NVQLink, which allows quantum computers to plug into existing computing infrastructure with ease. It also released an AI model that helps quantum computing firms with error correction, a key part of the quantum computing process.

Nvidia is obviously growing rapidly, driven by the widespread demand for its traditional computing products fueled by the AI arms race. It's not bound to slow down anytime soon and offers immediate upside over the next few years as the quantum computing market starts to heat up.

If quantum computing becomes all the rage in the future, Nvidia will still have a place due to its supporting architecture. I think this places Nvidia in a no-lose situation and makes it a great stock to invest in.

Keithen Drury has positions in IonQ and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.