Tech Talk
Mark Zuckerberg’s Quantum Computing Timeline Remarks Trigger Stock Crash
Investor confidence in quantum computing has taken a significant hit after recent remarks by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, leading to a sharp decline in the share prices of several quantum computing companies.
Speaking on a podcast with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg expressed skepticism about the near-term potential of quantum computing. “I’m not really an expert on quantum computing — my understanding is that it’s still quite a ways off from being a very useful paradigm,” he remarked.
These comments compounded concerns raised earlier by Huang during CES 2025, where he suggested that practical quantum computing solutions are still decades away.
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Huang noted that while quantum computers excel at specific tasks like generating random numbers for cryptography, they struggle with large-scale data processing due to their reliance on microwave communication.
“We’re probably five or six orders of magnitude away from useful quantum computers. It could take 15 years on the early side, and 30 years on the late side. A 20-year timeline seems reasonable to many of us,” Huang stated.
The impact of these statements was immediately reflected in the stock market. According to a Quartz report, shares of D-Wave Quantum plummeted by around 30%, while Rigetti Computing saw a decline of more than 27%.
Quantum Computing Inc. experienced a drop of approximately 23%, and IonQ shares fell by over 12%.
This follows a broader trend of declining investor enthusiasm in the sector, as Huang’s earlier remarks had already wiped out nearly $8 billion in market capitalization across quantum computing companies.
While industry leaders like Huang remain optimistic about the eventual development of highly useful quantum systems, the timeline for achieving such breakthroughs continues to temper market expectations.
