These are two of the more popular pure-play quantum computing stock picks, but is one a better pick than the other?<\/p>\n
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n Image source: Getty Images.<\/p>\n Quantum computing is still proving its relevance<\/p>\n Quantum computing<\/a> could be a game-changing technology, similar to how artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a> has been. Traditional computing is fantastic for straightforward computations with a clear input and output. However, it can struggle when there are multiple possible solutions. Traditional computing can brute-force its way through these calculations, but it’s very intensive. Quantum computing is an alternative to these problems, which appear in use cases such as drug discovery, logistics networks, and weather forecasting.<\/p>\n While quantum computing is still in its infancy, it’s developing rapidly. Each month, quantum computing firms announce new records for accuracy, which is a major problem with quantum computing currently. In July, Rigetti Computing announced that its Ankaa-3 system with four 9-qubit chips achieved a 99.5% two-qubit gate fidelity, a measure of how accurate a calculation is through two processing gates. While that’s impressive, it’s nowhere near where it needs to be to become commercially viable.<\/p>\n Most quantum computing companies point toward 2030 as the key year for quantum computing becoming a widely used technology, and both D-Wave and Rigetti are racing toward that goal. But they’re getting there via two different paths.<\/p>\n Each company is taking a different approach toward quantum computing<\/p>\n There are a few ways to perform quantum computing. Rigetti Computing is taking the superconducting approach, while D-Wave Quantum is taking the annealing path. Each of these techniques has benefits and drawbacks, and it’s impossible to know which technique will be the ultimate winner. There could even be multiple winners, depending on the end use.<\/p>\n However, I think the biggest factor is which companies are using the same technique as these two.<\/p>\n D-Wave Quantum uses the quantum annealing approach, which involves solving optimization problems. It looks for the lowest energy state in the solution, which is the optimal answer. This technique isn’t common, and sets D-Wave apart from the competition. This approach solves a wide range of quantum computing problems and could be easier to scale, giving it some advantages over Rigetti’s approach.<\/p>\n Rigetti Computing is taking the superconducting path, which is the most popular route. This involves cooling a particle down to near absolute zero, which is quite expensive. The superconducting approach allows for a ton of flexibility, as it is designed to run any quantum computing workloads, making it flexible but also lacking focus in one area. Because it’s the most popular, Rigetti is competing against massive tech companies<\/a> like Alphabet and IBM, which have far more resources than Rigetti Computing has access to. <\/p>\n As a result, Rigetti may be outspent by its competition, even if its products are solid. Because of D-Wave’s unique approach, it could carve out a niche for itself in the quantum computing realm, which makes it a better investment pick<\/a> in my eyes.<\/p>\n Both companies are incredibly risky, and investors must keep that in mind moving forward. However, as long as position sizing is kept appropriate<\/a>, buying one of these two quantum computing plays<\/a> can be a great way to introduce some massive upside for your portfolio.<\/p>\n Should you invest $1,000 in Rigetti Computing right now?<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in Rigetti Computing, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks<\/a> for investors to buy now\u2026 and Rigetti Computing 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, you\u2019d have $654,624!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,075,117!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting Stock Advisor\u2019s total average return is 1,049% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% 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 August 18, 2025<\/p>\n Keithen Drury<\/a> has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and International Business Machines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Points There’s a lot of buzz in the quantum computing investment realm, mainly driven by investors’ willingness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[191,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-103941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n