Is IonQ Stock Your Ticket to Becoming a Millionaire?

Imagine 268 acres (around 200 football fields) covered with one-foot-by-one-foot squares. All of the squares are blue except for one that's red. Now, picture yourself blindfolded without having seen the area previously. The odds that you would be able to pick the red square on your first try are one in 11,688,053. That happens to be the odds that you could win $1 million in the Powerball lottery.

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IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) is the kind of stock that might appeal to investors looking for huge winners. The company is a pioneer in the sizzling-hot quantum computing space. Is IonQ your ticket to becoming a millionaire?

Off to a great start

You would be off to a great start toward making that million bucks if you bought IonQ at its initial public offering (IPO) in October 2021. A $10,000 investment then in the quantum computing stock would now be worth more than $38,400.

Granted, that's still a long way from a cool $1 million. However, we're talking about a 284% return in less than four years. That's a compound annual growth rate in the ballpark of 40%. If IonQ could keep that kind of momentum going, it could turn a $10,000 initial investment into $1 million within 14 years.

The company delivered such an impressive gain by first jumping to the front of the pack in commercializing useful quantum computers. It began working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure in 2019 on quantum solutions for their cloud platforms. It unveiled the world's most powerful quantum computer the following year.

Today, IonQ makes the only quantum hardware available on all three major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, and Alphabet's Google Cloud). Its technology also supports every major quantum language and software development kit available.

A quantum leap

IonQ has made significant advances, but quantum computing remains in its infancy. That's good news for investors hoping the stock could make them a millionaire.

Image source: Getty Images.

Consulting firm McKinsey projects a total addressable market for quantum computing of $87 billion by 2035. Boston Consulting Group predicts that quantum computing and networking could create as much as $880 billion in economic value by 2040. The technology holds the potential to revolutionize cryptography, drug discovery, financial modeling, and materials science.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for quantum computing, though, is in artificial intelligence (AI). Because of their tremendous speed and ability to process data simultaneously, quantum computers could dramatically increase the capabilities of AI models in analyzing data, recognizing patterns, and making decisions. They could also pave the way for artificial general intelligence (AGI).

IonQ is in a good position to lead the charge. It has a large and growing portfolio of intellectual property. The company's architecture offers several key advantages over rivals, notably including lower error correction.

IonQ: millionaire maker?

Could IonQ be your ticket to making $1 million? Maybe.

To be sure, there's no guarantee that quantum computing will fulfill its potential anytime soon. For example, McKinsey predicts that the technology for processing the most complex problems won't be ready until 2035 or later.

Even if it becomes widely available sooner than expected, IonQ might not be one of the biggest winners. Several other companies are developing the technology, including deep-pocketed tech leaders such as Alphabet and Microsoft.

There's also a possibility that the company could be acquired before the stock can make early investors millionaires. Perhaps Alphabet or one of the other big quantum computing leaders could decide to gobble up IonQ to get their hands on its technology.

However, quantum computing will almost certainly be a much bigger market in the future than it is now. And IonQ could remain at the forefront of the industry. If it does, this stock just might be a millionaire maker over time.

Should you invest $1,000 in IonQ right now?

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.