Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is ‘dead wrong’ about quantum computers, D-Wave CEO says

Published

10 months ago

January 8, 2025

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D-Wave CEO responds to Jensen Huang's quantum comments

D-Wave Quantum CEO Alan Baratz said Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is “dead wrong” about quantum computing after comments from the head of the chip giant spooked Wall Street on Wednesday.

Huang was asked Tuesday about Nvidia’s strategy for quantum computing. He said Nvidia could make conventional chips that are needed alongside quantum computing chips, but that those computers would need 1 million times the number of quantum processing units, called qubits, that they currently have.

Getting “very useful quantum computers” to market could take 15 to 30 years, Huang told analysts.

Huang’s remarks sent stocks in the nascent industry slumping, with D-Wave plunging 36% on Wednesday.

“The reason he’s wrong is that we at D-Wave are commercial today,” Baratz told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa on “The Exchange.” Baratz said companies including Mastercard and Japan’s NTT Docomo “are using our quantum computers today in production to benefit their business operations.”

“Not 30 years from now, not 20 years from now, not 15 years from now,” Baratz said. “But right now today.”

D-Wave’s revenue is still minimal. Sales in the latest quarter fell 27% to $1.9 million from $2.6 million a year earlier.

Quantum computing promises to solve problems that are difficult for current processors, such as decoding encryption, generating random numbers and large-scale simulations. Technologists have been working on it for decades, and companies including Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM are pursuing it today, alongside researchers at startups and universities.

Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks while holding a Project Digits computer during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Huang announced a raft of new chips, software and services, aiming to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence computing. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

D-Wave was among a number of companies that enjoyed a revival of interest from investors in December, when Google announced a breakthrough in its own research. Google said it had completed a 100 qubit chip, the second of six steps in its strategy to build a quantum system with 1 million qubits.

D-Wave shares soared 178% in December after popping 185% the month prior. Quantum company Rigetti Computing, which plummeted 45% on Wednesday, quintupled in value last month. IonQ dropped 39% on Wednesday. The stock rose 14% in December following a 143% rally in November.

Baratz acknowledged that one approach to quantum computing, called gate-based, may be decades away. But he said uses an annealing approach, which can be deployed now.

While Huang’s “comments may not be totally off-base for gate model quantum computers, well, they are 100% off base for annealing quantum computers,” Baratz said.

Nvidia declined to comment.

Even after Wednesday’s slide, D-Wave shares are up about 600% in the last year, giving the company a market cap of $1.6 billion.

Quantum computing has also been boosted by investor interest in artificial intelligence, the technology that’s led to surging demand for Nvidia’s graphics processing units, which use conventional transistors instead of qubits. Nvidia’s market cap has increased by 168% in the past year to $3.4 trillion.

Baratz said D-Wave systems can solve problems beyond the capabilities of the fastest Nvidia-equipped systems.

“l’ll be happy to meet with Jensen any time, any place, to help fill in these gaps for him,” Baratz said.

WATCH: D-Wave CEO responds to Huang’s comments

Technology

Nvidia earnings, Target’s profit outlook, Meta’s antitrust victory and more in Morning Squawk

Published

4 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Nvidia earnings, Target's profit outlook, Meta's antitrust victory and more in Morning Squawk

The Nvidia logo is displayed on a building at Nvidia headquarters on August 27, 2025 in Santa Clara, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. AI wars

Wall Street may be losing some of its excitement for artificial intelligence, but the battle among major technology companies for dominance in the field hasn’t cooled. After the bell today, investor attention will zero in on just one event: Nvidia‘s earnings report.

Here’s the latest on Nvidia and the sector:

Nvidia has fallen more than 4% this week as investors await its third-quarter results. Shares are up more than 1% in premarket trading today.
Nvidia and Microsoft yesterday announced a partnership with AI startup Anthropic. A source told CNBC that with the investments, Anthropic’s valuation now stands at around $350 billion — up from $183 billion in September.
Microsoft also unveiled its own product that can automatically detect the use of AI agents developed by the tech company or some other tech firms.
Google, meanwhile, announced its upgraded Gemini 3 model as it attempts to keep up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Intuit will pay OpenAI more than $100 million in a multiyear deal that will integrate ChatGPT in the company’s financial products, like TurboTax.
The decline in Nvidia and other AI names yesterday dragged down the broader market, with the S&P 500 logging its longest losing streak since August.
Follow live markets updates here.

2. Missed the bullseye

Target Corp. shopping baskets sit on the floor of a company store

Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Target posted third-quarter revenue that was slightly below Wall Street’s expectations this morning and cut the top end of its full-year profit outlook. Shares fell about 2% in premarket trading following the results.

Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke said the retailer is focused on making investments and decisions that “get Target back to growth as quickly as possible.” But, as CNBC’s Melissa Repko notes, Fiddelke declined to say exactly when he thought the company would see positive sales again.

Lowe’s similarly lowered its full-year profit outlook before the bell. However, the home improvement retailer reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings per share for the third quarter, sending the stock up more than 6% in premarket trading.

3. Epstein files

A protester holds a placard after the House voted 427-1 to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the release of documents and files at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Roberto Schmidt | Getty Images

Both chambers of Congress yesterday passed a bill that would release the Justice Department’s files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The measure now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump, who has said he would sign it into law.

Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said this morning that he is resigning from OpenAI’s board. Two days ago, Summers said that he would step back from public commitments following the release of his emails with Epstein.

4. WhatsApproved

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Meta emerged victorious in its antirust case against the Federal Trade Commission yesterday. Judge James Boasberg said that the Facebook parent does not currently have a monopoly in social media, writing in his decision that TikTok and YouTube are “competitive threats.”

At the heart of the case was Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Regulators argued that the company should be forced to sever off the two brands.

The decision comes seven months after the trial began and five years since the FTC filed the suit. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former operating chief Sheryl Sandberg and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom all testified in the trial.

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox

5. Online to IRL

People linger in the restaurant of the Netflix House experience center.

Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

After years of dominating the streaming world, Netflix is now betting on toys and in-person experiences.

The company has started jumping on product partnerships and marketing that traditional media firms have utilized for decades. As CNBC’s Sarah Whitten reports, Netflix’s push comes as the streamer’s original content library gains enough popular programming — think “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Bridgerton” — to justify retail investments.

Netflix has inked agreements with Hasbro, Mattel and Jazwares on merchandise tied to its media properties. The California-based company has also launched short- and long-term event spaces, including the new Netflix House Philadelphia.

The Daily Dividend

Trump lashed out at ABC yesterday after a reporter with the Disney-owned company’s news division asked the president why he had not released the Epstein files.

I think the license should be taken away from ABC. Because your news is so fake and so wrong.

President Donald Trump

— CNBC’s Ashley Capoot, MacKenzie Sigalos, Sean Conlon, Jordan Novet, Melissa Repko, Jonathan Vanian, Sarah Whitten and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

Technology

Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after release of emails with Epstein

Published

5 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after release of emails with Epstein

Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said Wednesday that he will resign from the board of OpenAI after the release of emails between him and the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers had announced Monday that he would be stepping back from all public commitments, but it was not immediately clear whether that included his position at the artificial intelligence startup.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC.

OpenAI’s board told CNBC it respects Summers’ decision to resign.

“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the OpenAI board of directors said in a statement.

Details of Summers’ correspondence with Epstein were made public last week after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more than 20,000 documents it obtained pursuant to a subpoena from Epstein’s estate. Summers has faced intense scrutiny following the release of those files.

Summers joined OpenAI’s board in 2023 during a turbulent period for the startup. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted from the company, though he returned to the chief executive role days later.

In the wake of “The Blip,” as some OpenAI employees call it, Summers was appointed to the board alongside Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was the only member of OpenAI’s previous board who still held a seat.

Axios was first to report about Summers’ resignation from the board.