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IBM’s strategy to make quantum computing accessible through the cloud is helping it monetize its offerings.
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IonQ’s trapped-ion systems are moving from the lab to real-world use cases.
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Together, these companies can give investors a solid chance to ride the $1 trillion quantum computing wave.
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10 stocks we like better than International Business Machines ›
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapidly transforming industries and reshaping our daily lives, positioning itself as one of the most profound technological revolutions in modern history. But we may now be on the brink of an even bigger transformation. Enter quantum computing -- a fundamentally different, more powerful, and more efficient way of processing information.
While classical computers work with bits of 0s and 1s to handle information, quantum machines use qubits, which can exist in multiple states at once. This enables them to tackle complex problems that can be challenging even for the fastest supercomputers today. Analysts project that the combination of quantum computing and AI could generate more than $1 trillion in economic value by 2035.
Here's why these two prominent quantum-AI companies are smart picks for long-term investors.
When we think about the technology giant International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), it is mainly related to its mainframes and enterprise software business. However, for a long time, the company has been gradually working to become a leader in the more ambitious field of quantum computing. In the second quarter of fiscal 2025 (ending June 30), IBM achieved a significant milestone: the deployment of IBM Quantum System Two in Japan with RIKEN, its first installation outside the U.S.
IBM has been focused on making quantum computing accessible to researchers, developers, and enterprises through the cloud. The strategy seems to be paying off. The company has already reached cumulative bookings of nearly $1 billion for its quantum business from 2017 to early 2025 -- implying that quantum computing is gradually moving from the lab to the monetization stage. The company has already deployed over 75 quantum systems in production since 2016.
IBM plans to demonstrate quantum advantage by 2026 and reveal the first error-corrected quantum computer (which can reliably detect and correct computational errors during operation) by 2028. The company is also committed to building a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer (detecting and correcting internal errors continuously while running complex operations) by 2029.