Artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) investing is still the primary driver in today’s market, although quantum computing investing could become mainstream by as early as 2030. However, investors don’t need to invest in one or the other; some of the quantum computing pure plays are dabbling in both spaces. This could open up a huge investment opportunity over the next few years and deliver shareholders market-crushing returns.<\/p>\n The standard they’ll be judged by is whether they can outperform traditional big tech companies, as they have long led the market to new heights. Additionally, some of them, like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), are also competing in the quantum computing arms race alongside the AI buildout.<\/p>\n I’ve got three stocks that fit the bill that could outperform traditional tech companies, with one of them potentially coming as a surprise.<\/p>\n IONQ (NYSE: IONQ) and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) are two of my favorite quantum computing pure plays to follow. Each is taking a unique approach to the quantum computing industry<\/a>, potentially giving them a leg up if their novel solutions work.<\/p>\n IonQ utilizes a trapped-ion approach, which has a few key advantages over the more popular superconducting approach. Instead of needing to cool a particle to nearly absolute zero, a trapped-ion computer can perform its tasks at room temperature. This reduces input costs, making it easier to deploy. Additionally, a trapped ion calculation is far more accurate than a superconducting one at this time. IonQ holds multiple world records for the most accurate quantum computers, and this could make it a top pick by potential clients.<\/p>\n D-Wave Quantum uses a quantum annealing approach, which isn’t intended for broad use like a trapped ion or superconducting quantum computer might be. Instead, it works by finding the lowest energy state in a system, which represents the optimal solution. This makes it ideal for tasks like statistics or logistics networks, which represent a massive use case for quantum computing.<\/p>\n Each company is also looking at deploying its solutions for AI. IonQ’s researchers have utilized several existing large language models and improved them by incorporating quantum computing. This cut down on energy cost and provided better-performing models. D-Wave Quantum is also involved with integrating quantum computing applications with AI, specifically focusing on applications where pre-trained AI could assist businesses and researchers.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Both companies are approaching integration with quantum computing in a hybrid approach, which involves using quantum computers to enhance what traditional computers are already doing. Currently, the king of traditional AI computing is Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), and it’s also dabbling in the AI realm.<\/p>\n Nvidia isn’t developing a quantum processing unit to replace its graphics processing units (GPUs). Instead, it’s evolving its popular CUDA software to include quantum computing plug-ins, morphing the platform into CUDA-Q.<\/p>\n This is a smart approach by Nvidia, as it allows it to continue focusing on the AI arms race while capturing the upside of quantum computing. This approach will ensure that Nvidia’s GPUs are needed in a hybrid computing application, which will continue to be the vast majority of use cases that deploy quantum computing.<\/p>\n While some may argue that Nvidia could be classified as a “traditional” tech company, I don’t think it falls under this classification, as it’s only a computing hardware provider that just happens to be the largest company in the world due to extreme demand. Nvidia is making a ton of money from its GPU sales to traditional big tech companies, and I think it’s well-positioned to outperform in the current environment as well as in the future, when quantum computing potentially becomes a commercially viable technology.<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a010 best stocks<\/a> for investors to buy now\u2026 and IonQ wasn\u2019t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you\u2019d have $661,694!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,082,963!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting\u00a0Stock Advisor\u2019s total average return is 1,067% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 189% for the S&P 500. Don\u2019t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.<\/p>\n See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of September 15, 2025<\/p>\n Keithen Drury<\/a> has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image source: Getty Images. <\/p>\n