Is IonQ Stock a Buy After This 100-Qubit System Sale?
Key Points
IonQ will deliver a 100-qubit quantum system to South Korea's national research center.
Game-changing quantum applications require millions of physical qubits, but IonQ's best system only has 100.
Quantum computing will create fortunes, but today's highfliers may not be tomorrow's winners.
- 10 stocks we like better than IonQ ›
Quantum computing specialist IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) just landed a large system sale. The company will deliver a 100-qubit IonQ Tempo system to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), helping the South Korean research center develop hybrid quantum-classical computing methods.
IonQ's press materials didn't specify any financial details, and it's unclear exactly when the top-of-the-line system will be delivered. The KISTI deal is still an impressive achievement, but it doesn't inspire me to buy or recommend IonQ's stock.
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The million-qubit problem
100 qubits sounds impressive, given that IonQ's most powerful system in 2025 only has 36 qubits. However, 100 physical qubits still can't get much work done.
Theoretical research shows that game-changing quantum computing tasks, such as breaking encryption or simulating molecular interactions, will require thousands of algorithmic qubits and many millions of physical qubit units. The difference is that physical qubits do the actual work, but their results tend to be noisy and require a ton of error correction. Hence, the number of qubits available to quantum computing algorithms is usually much smaller than the physical count.
And of course, IonQ's Korean sale involved 100 physical qubits. After error correction, researchers get to experiment with 64 algorithmic qubits.
Image source: Getty Images.
Priced for perfection in an imperfect world
IonQ investors have been too excited about the stock in 2025.
With an $18.3 billion market cap, IonQ trades at 229 times sales. It makes market darlings like Palantir Technologies and Strategy look cheap by comparison.
Quantum computing may mint millionaires in the long run, but it's much too early to tell whether their money-making portfolios will feature any IonQ shares (or Rigetti, or D-Wave Quantum, and so on).
These are the early days of a promising but difficult and risky business. IonQ's stock is priced for long-term perfection, and that's not a reasonable investment thesis. With or without the occasional 100-qubit system sale, IonQ's stock is far too risky, in my view.
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Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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