ewsba.se
Shares of D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), a quantum computing company, spiked in April after Nvidia announced new artificial intelligence models that can make quantum computing more efficient and less prone to errors.
Nvidia said the new open-source AI models, called Ising, could act as an "operating system" for quantum computers, calibrating them to make them more accurate than they are now. The news sent quantum computing stocks soaring last month, including D-Wave Quantum, which gained 40.5%.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
For comparison's sake, the S&P 500 rose 9.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 was up 14.3% last month.
One of the biggest problems with quantum computing right now is that they use fragile quantum bits, called "qubits," that can be easily comprised by outside interference. This can make quantum computing prone to errors, so reducing them is one of the key focuses of tech companies. Nvidia's Ising could be a big leap forward in this space.
While many tech companies are developing hardware to make quantum computing more reliable, Nvidia is taking a unique approach in using AI models to calibrate quantum computing processors, which the company said results in error-correction decoding that's 2.5 times faster and 3 times more accurate than traditional systems.
In short, Ising could make quantum computers far more useful very soon. That's great news for D-Wave Quantum, which makes quantum computers for customers and sells cloud-based quantum services.
If quantum computing becomes more reliable because of Ising, it could eventually help D-Wave's services and hardware. But the bigger picture here is that Ising could help move quantum computing out of more theoretical use cases and into more practical usefulness.
D-Wave will report its first-quarter results on May 12, and analysts' average consensus estimates are calling for about $4.1 million in sales and a loss of $0.08 per share.
Those results would be significantly worse than its sales of $15 million and a loss of about $0.02 in the year-ago quarter. But it's important to point out that D-Wave financial results can be lumpy because selling large quantum computing systems to customers is often inconsistent. For example, while new deals can be made in one quarter, the revenue won't come until later, when the quantum computing systems are delivered.
That's one of the challenges with being a D-Wave investor -- or any quantum computing stock right now -- because commercial sales aren't as consistent as those of many other tech hardware and services.
Still, with Nvidia's new Ising potentially accelerating the usability of quantum computing, D-Wave and other quantum computing companies should be optimistic that this tech's potential could be fully unlocked soon.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article reported incorrect gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 in April.
Before you buy stock in D-Wave Quantum, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and D-Wave Quantum wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $496,473!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,216,605!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 968% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 202% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 4, 2026.
Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Jumped 40% Last Month was originally published by The Motley Fool