Nvidia’s ‘AI Godfather’ forces a reset on the tech world’s next big bet: Morning Brief
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When Nvidia (NVDA:) CEO Jensen Huang speaks, the market scrutinizes every word, making every occurrence a great opportunity for growth or slippage for the company, its partners and the industry at large.
Despite the company’s glittering, impressive announcement package, a few lines from Huang drowned out the technology’s exciting new hope.
Shares are linked quantum computer failed on Wednesdayday After Huang’s comments that useful quantum computers are still years away, it’s hardly a new observation.
When Google (GOOG:, GOOGLE:) opened Willow quantum chip last monthshares of the ecosystem rose even as market analysts acknowledged that commercial plans were a long way off.
Contrast that with Huang’s remarks, and quantum aspirations became dead weight.
“If you said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be early. If you said 30, that’s probably on the late side.” Huang said during Nvidia’s analytics day at CES on Wednesday. “If you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it.”
Projecting potential revenue streams over decades seemed too much for an industry that measures itself in quarters.
Shares of Rigetti Computing ( Shares of Rigetti Computing)RGTI:), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS:), and IonQ (IONQ:) all fell more than 40% following Huang’s comments.The quantum names come off a massive run fueled by Google’s announcement in December, as investors sought to get in as close to the ground floor as possible on the potentially society-changing technology.
But Huang seemed to offer a reality check or reason to unload the stocks, which had reached dizzying heights.In the past year, Rigetti has gained more than 900%, D-Wave Quantum about 600% and IonQ about 150%. :
However distant the future bids of these companies may be, Google offered something specific to the marketand that helped lead the search giant to a December rally, lifting its associated players.Meanwhile, the tech executive’s outlook, though one of corporate America’s brightest, saw shares collapse.
The irony of Wall Street retreating from the supposed paradigm-shifting technology is that the market is already knee-deep in the transformation of artificial intelligence. Quantum computing proponents see advances in the field as a way to surpass conventional data processing, leading to medicine, energy and cybersecurity. But if investors are already getting impatient with the promises of artificial intelligence, then the fruits of further-reaching technology may seem too far to be tasted.
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