Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Is Soaring Today

Shares of D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) are moving higher today, up 14.1% as of 3:43 p.m. ET. The jump comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were mostly flat.

In an interview released Tuesday, one of this year's Nobel Prize winners in physics told Bloomberg that China is catching up to the United States in what he describes as a "real race" between the two nations to build a viable quantum computer.

China is catching up to the U.S.

In 2019, when John Martinis was a lead researcher in Alphabet's Google Quantum AI Lab, the physicist believed China's quantum technology to be about three years behind that of the U.S. But now, Martinis says China has "caught up" and is only "nanoseconds" behind.

Martinis also told Bloomberg that the Trump administration is "now moving on to quantum" after having worked to bolster the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors are hoping the government puts its money where its mouth is, so to speak, and invests in the industry, maybe even investing directly in individual quantum computing companies as it has in AI and critical mineral companies.

There is a lot of hype around D-Wave

Martinis says that viable quantum computers could be five to ten years away. Even if that timeline proves true, that doesn't necessarily make D-Wave a good investment. I still think that way too much future growth is already baked into the current valuation. Also, it's worth noting that D-Wave's quantum annealing technology differs fundamentally from Martinis's research.

Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.