Add Meta Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to the chorus of high-profile names showing skepticism about quantum computing - and raining on a recent investment fad.
Shares of SEALSQ Corp are leading the selloff in quantum stocks Monday, down 42%, while shares of D-Wave Quantum Inc. and Rigetti Computing Inc. (RGTI) are down over 30% and shares of Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) are off 27%.
IonQ Inc.'s stock $(IONQ)$ is seeing sharp declines as well to a lesser extent, off 14% on the day and 33% so far in 2025.
Monday's drops come in the wake of comments from Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. While admitting he was "not really an expert on quantum computing," Zuckerberg said he understands the technology is "still quite a ways off from being a very useful paradigm."
The Meta $(META)$ CEO noted that "most people still think that's like a decade-plus out," meaning that artificial-intelligence systems would likely be out before that.
This is the second day of notable declines for quantum stocks so far this year, with the first coming Wednesday in the wake of cautious commentary from Nvidia Corp. $(NVDA)$ Chief Executive Jensen Huang. He said that to estimate a 15-year timeline for "very simple quantum computers" seems like it would be "on the early side."
That commentary drew pushback within the quantum-computing industry, with D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz saying that Huang "has a misunderstanding of quantum" since D-Wave is "commercial today."
The company's revenue is still small, however, with D-Wave expected to post $8.8 million in sales for 2024. D-Wave announced last week "the first-ever customer purchase of a D-Wave Advantage annealing quantum-computing system reflecting a significant expansion to the company's revenue model."
"Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli also came out with critical comments about the quantum industry, which led to further pressure on the stocks late last week.
Analysts at S3 Partners wrote on Friday that short sellers grew their bearish positions in quantum names during 2024 despite ample paper losses at the time. "So far in 2025 we still see a high level of conviction in the quantum-computing short trade with $58 million of additional short selling in the first two weeks of the year, but now short sellers are swimming in mark-to-market profits," said Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3's director of predictive analytics.