Keithen Drury, The Motley Fool
5 min read
In This Article:
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Amazon and Alphabet are developing internal quantum computing chips.
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IonQ has sold some of its products to Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
Quantum computing is a hot topic in the market, and if it proves to be a viable technology over the next decade, it can really shake up the computing industry. However, pinpointing the winner of the quantum computing race is far from certain. No company has set itself apart from another as the go-to solution for quantum computing, so the field is wide open.
Investing in quantum computing start-ups right now is akin to biotech investing -- either a company will succeed or it will fail. This all-or-nothing investment approach may suit some investors, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Instead, I'd rather pick some of the big tech companies competing in this race and have a backup plan should quantum computing not work out. From that standpoint, I like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). In the start-up realm, I'm a huge fan of IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), although that company is more of a long shot compared to the other two.
I think it's key to take a balanced approach in quantum computing, and taking a position in this trio exposes investors to the right amount of risk.
Alphabet kicked off the latest quantum computing hype cycle in December 2024 when it announced its Willow chip had completed a computing task in five minutes that would take the most powerful supercomputer 10 septillion years (a 10 with 25 trailing zeros) to perform. Now, this test was rigged in Willow's favor because it tackled a problem that is only solvable using quantum computers, but there are many problems like that in the world, such as logistics networks and weather patterns. There are also massive implications with AI, and quantum computing could be the technology that unlocks AI's maximum potential.
Amazon is also working on its own chip, Ocelot. These two companies are heavily pursuing quantum computing because they have already built significant infrastructure to support cloud computing. Cloud computing involves moving workloads online to a cloud computing server, which clients rent from providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud. Having rentable quantum computing hardware is key, as they don't want to be caught in the same position as traditional computing.
The most popular workhorse computing hardware used in cloud computing is the graphics processing unit (GPU), made by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). GPUs have become popular devices to run workloads on, and Nvidia has captured a massive chunk of the data center computing market share. As a result, AWS and Google Cloud must continue buying expensive hardware from Nvidia. If they can develop their own quantum computing solutions for the next wave of computing innovation, they won't be subject to a supplier's ecosystem, allowing them to make more money.