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According to McKinsey's estimation, the number of operational quantum computers is expected to only reach around 5,000 by 2030, so practical quantum computing (QC)  is still years away; but it will change the world when it arrives. Either way, the QC industry is a rapidly evolving and expanding field and, according to Precedence Research, is expected to experience growth by a compound annual rate of 36.9% between now and then.

There are close to 200 companies whose primary focus is on quantum Software, according to The Quantum Insider, while just over 20 companies worldwide are working on quantum computer Processors and Chips. This article examines 10 of the latter in munKNEE's Quantum Computing Hardware Developers Index. The 10 constituents trade on American stock exchanges, are heavily involved in the research and development of qubits, and are presented in descending order as to their performances last week and also year-to-date (YTD).

1. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS): UP 18.7% this week; DOWN 40.4% YTD
   • is the leading provider of QC systems and software with a focus on quantum annealing technology.
   • Market Capitalization: $137 Million
   • Read: D-Wave Quantum Releases Q3 2023 Financial Results
2. Rigetti Computing (RGTI): UP 18.3% this week; UP 51.2% YTD
   • specializes in superconducting qubit technology and has developed a suite of software tools and algorithms for programming and simulating quantum computations.
   • Market Capitalization: $155 Million
   • Read: Rigetti Computing Released Earnings Last Week And Analysts Lifted Their Price Target To US$3.50
3. IonQ (IONQ): UP 16.8% this week; UP 267.1% YTD
   • develops QC hardware and is the first to have its computing systems available via all the major public cloud services. It generates little in the way of revenue right now and is not yet profitable and will need to continue spending heavily to develop its products and business for at least a few more years. It plans to build a network of quantum computers accessible via the cloud and is targeting rapid growth in 2023 as researchers begin using its hardware at greater scale.
   • Market Capitalization: $2.6B
   • Read: IonQ Announces Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results
4. Intel (INTC): UP 14.2% this week; UP 63.9% YTD
   • is investing heavily in QC research and development making significant headway in developing its QC hardware, software, and algorithms. Its chip is based on what it knows best - silicon chip technology - using some of the same techniques it uses to make classical computing chips but silicon is something of an underdog in the QC realm right now. QC is not central to Intel's plan to regain dominance in the semiconductor industry but it could become an important segment for the integrated chip design in the years to come if research yields positive results.
   • Market Capitalization: $185B
   • Read: Intel: plan for home-made chips is far from oven-ready
5. Micron Technology (MU): UP 4.8% this week; UP 54.0% YTD
   • began sampling its own HBM3 chips in July which are a 50% improvement in bandwidth over currently available solutions with mass production expected to begin early in calendar 2024, and meaningful revenue from this product in fiscal 2024.
   • Market Capitalization: $82B
   • Read: Micron (MU) Sued by China's YMTC for Patent Infringement 
6. IBM (IBM): UP 3.3% this week; UP 8.0% YTD
   • has its own QC chips and systems, which are available for commercial use via its Quantum business unit and, in partnership with UC Berkeley, has presented evidence that noisy quantum computers such as its 127 qubits processor will be able to provide value sooner than expected, all thanks to advances in IBM Quantum hardware and the development of new error mitigation methods.
   • Market Capitalization: $140B
   • Read: IBM Unveils watsonx.governance to Help Businesses & Governments Govern and Build Trust in Generative AI
7. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): UP 3.1% this week; UP 88.4% YTD
   • focuses on CPUs and GPUs and is a major player in the embedded chip market. It has launched its MI300X AI chip, the most powerful AI chip in history with the power of 2.4 times that of Nvidia's top devices in just one chip as well as 1.6 times the memory bandwidth, which will eliminate the need for half the chips AI companies desperately need.
   • Market Capitalization: $194.7B
   • Read: AMD's New AI Accelerators: A License To Print Money?
8. Honeywell International (HON): UP 2.8% this week; DOWN 10.8% YTD
   • has spun off its quantum computer unit into a separate business and merged it with start-up Cambridge Quantum Computing into an entity called Quantinuum in which Honeywell has a 54% ownership stake. It also supplies Quantinuum with hardware and software as it develops its QC technology.
   • Market Capitalization: $126B
   • Read: AIBOT Collaborates with Honeywell: Elevating eVTOL Technology to New Horizons
9. Baidu (BIDU): UP 0.6% this week; DOWN 9.3% YTD
   • is involved in the development of both QC hardware and software introducing its first superconducting quantum computer with a 10-qubit processor and a 36-qubit quantum chip in August, 2022. Additionally, Baidu has pioneered the development of a comprehensive quantum hardware-software integration solution, enabling access to a wide range of quantum chips through various platforms such as cloud services, mobile applications, and personal computers.
   • Market Capitalization: $38B
   • Read: Building AI models is an ‘enormous waste of social resources,’ says Baidu CEO one month after his company released its latest AI model
10. Alibaba Group (BABA): DOWN 6.1% this week; DOWN 15.6% YTD
    • • has been investing heavily in QC research and made major progress in launching its QC chip, called the XuanTie C910, which is based on superconducting qubit technology.
      • Market Capitalization: $197.6B
      • Read: Alibaba Flagged That US Chip Curbs Clouded Its Cloud Computing Prospects
         

On average, the above 10 QC stocks have a market capitalization of $97B, an average stock price of $78.65, and are UP 2.2% this week and UP 12.1% YTD.

There are an additional 4 mega-cap companies very active in QC research and development and they are included in the "The Magnificent Seven" AI-themed Mega-Cap Stocks Index, namely: Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN). They have an average market capitalization of $1.8T, an average stock price of $285.83 and are, on average, UP 1.3% this week, but are UP 111.5%, on average, YTD.

If you are interested in investing in this sector consider the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) that consists of 35 semiconductor stocks (including the 10 stocks in the Quantum Computing Hardware Developers Index and the 4 stocks in the "The Magnificent Seven" AI-themed Mega-Cap Stocks Index). It was UP 4.2% this week and is UP 52.8% YTD.

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