D-Wave is not happy about the Nvidia CEO’s thoughts on quantum computing: ‘It’s an egregious error’

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may have thrown cold water on the quantum computing sector this week, causing shares of companies in the space to crater on Wednesday. However, one industry leader is firing back, saying that Huang is actually “dead wrong” about quantum computing in an attempt to put investors at ease.

That response was from Dr. Alan Baratz, the CEO of D-Wave Quantum, whose stock fell more than 36% on Wednesday. (Markets were closed on Thursday due to a national day of mourning for the late former president Jimmy Carter.)

It’s worth noting, however, that D-Wave shares (NYSE: QBTS) are up an astounding 444% in the past six months. Other companies in the space, such as Rigetti Computing (Nasdaq: RGTI) and Quantum Computing (Nasdaq: QUBT), have seen similar upward trajectories, so some perspective is warranted. Their fortunes turned this week after Huang reportedly said that he thought practical uses for quantum computing were likely decades away.

Even so, following Huang’s comments, Baratz felt compelled to speak up. His primary issue? The quantum computing field is more nuanced than Huang’s comments may lead investors to believe.

“It’s an egregious error on Mr. Huang’s part,” Bartaz told Fast Company. “We’re not decades away from commercial quantum computers. They exist. There are companies that are using our quantum computer today.”

The future is now?

Baratz says that D-Wave has a commercially available quantum computer that is being operated by commercial businesses, and it’s delivering real-world results. For instance, one of D-Wave’s customers, a telecom company, utilizes its quantum computer to optimize how cellular towers exchange information and data, and transition phones from one tower to the next.

“By leveraging our quantum computers, they can reduce a computation that used to take 25 hours down to 40 seconds,” he says.

Baratz explains that there are a couple of different approaches to quantum computing, and D-Wave has been working on one of those approaches for two decades. Most other quantum companies, he says, take another approach, and that technology is still in development, and likely many years away. That, he says, is likely what Huang was referring to.

“I don’t take issue with his comments about quantum being 15 or 30 years away,” he says. “I take issue with the fact that he said quantum is years away without being more thoughtful and specific.”

Fast Company reached out to Nvidia for further comment, which the company declined.