What’s next for IonQ stock in 2026 | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Not too long ago, AI felt like something you’d argue about after watching a sci-fi movie on the weekend.

Then ChatGPT hit the screens in late 2022, and all of a sudden, the conversation stopped being theoretical.

Investors who paid attention benefited immensely by investing in pure-play AI and AI-adjacent stocks.

For perspective, since late 2022, Nvidia alone has surged from nearly $422.5 billion to about $4.63 trillion in market cap (adding nearly $4.2 trillion in value)

Quantum computing stocks feel like they are at that same juncture at this point.

At its core, quantum computing is about doing math differently.

Put simply, traditional computers handle problems one step at a time, sort of like checking doors at a hotel one by one.

On the flipside, quantum computers can check several doors at once. It might not seem like much until it starts solving impossible problems and changing how drugs are developed, products are moved, and data is secured.

In fact, according to McKinsey, quantum technologies could potentially create more than $1.3 trillion in value by 2035.

2025 in particular was a huge year for quantum. Companies started showing real-world progress, governments began paying attention, and investors took notice.

Perhaps the clearest beneficiary of this shift has been IonQ (IONQ), a rare pure-play in a space still dominated by tech giants.

That said, the question heading into 2026 is likely to be a ‘show me’ year for quantum players like IonQ, which, if they could turn scientific progress into something Wall Street easily understands in terms of revenues, customers, and long-term expansion.

IonQ stock heads into 2026 as analysts debate whether quantum hype can finally translate into revenue

Photo by Cheng Xin on Getty Images

2025 was the year quantum got real

2025 will probably go down as the year quantum broke the perception around it perpetually being in ‘almost there’ mode.

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Progress became visible, measurable, and a lot more commercial at the same time.

Here are some of the biggest milestones making the shift impossible to ignore.

Google’s Willow chip: Google showed off its powerful 105-qubit processor in late 2024, crossing a critical threshold in error correction. In 2025, it moved from theory to action, solving a Quantum Echo physics problem with a 13,000× speedup that would have taken a classical supercomputer far longer to complete.
IBM’s long-term roadmap: IBM laid out a powerful fault-tolerant plan as it looked to target a massive 200 logical qubits by 2029 and scale toward a mind-boggling 1,000 logical qubits in the early 2030s.
Microsoft’s topological bet: Microsoft introduced its “Majorana 1” prototype while demonstrating 28 logical qubits encoded within 112 physical qubits, underscoring a future where error correction is significantly less resource-intensive.
Funding and adoption accelerated: North of $2 billion was poured into quantum startups in 2024, followed by another $1.25 billion in 2025, as governments and enterprises expanded cloud-based pilots, signaling a critical shift.

IonQ is a different kind of quantum bet

IonQ is one of the few pure-play stocks you can invest in, which is taking a much more patient approach compared to its rivals.

Although larger businesses, such as IBM and Google, continue to focus on building machines with as many qubits as possible, IonQ is focusing more on how these qubits actually function. Hence, it’s essentially chasing accuracy over raw horsepower.

That level of focus has paid off.

In 2025, IonQ reached a massive performance milestone, showing its machines are able to handle significantly more complex problems than their size would suggest.

Competitors like Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum take different approaches, and have also found success, but IonQ has done the best job so far in effectively turning complex science into an investment vehicle.

Here are major U.S.-listed quantum stocks with 2025 year-to-date gains as of 12/26/2025:

IonQ: +10.13%
Rigetti Computing: +46.66%
D-Wave Quantum: +201.07%
Quantum Computing Inc.: −35.59%
Defiance Quantum ETF: +38% Source: ytdreturn.com

IonQ’s major milestones in 2025

IonQ’s 2025 was essentially a combination of technical breakthroughs, early commercial wins, and growing investor attention.

Here are the main highlights of the year:

Reached #AQ 64 performance: IonQ’s powerful new Tempo system struck #AQ 64 three months ahead of schedule, doubling its previous computing power while opening the door to powerful real-world applications such as drug discovery and energy optimization.
Set a fidelity record: IonQ achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, the first business to go past that threshold, reducing errors and laying groundwork for much larger systems, including a planned 256-qubit system in 2026.
Landed a landmark system sale: IonQ inked an agreement to deliver a massive 100-qubit systemto South Korea’s national research institute, KISTI.
Proved real-world advantage: In partnering with Ansys, IonQ beat classical supercomputers by 12% on a practical engineering simulation.
Expanded aggressively: IonQ’s fundamentals are in good shape, backed by timely acquisitions and partnerships, along with cloud availability through AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, boosting sales to $39.9 million in Q3 2025, up 221% year-over-year.

“I am pleased to report that we once again beat the high end of our revenue guidance, this time by 37%. We are also raising our revenue expectations for the full year to $110 million at the high end of guidance,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ.

IonQ in 2026: What to watch next

After a breakout 2025, IonQ heads into 2026 with a ton of expectations.

Here’s what investors should be watching:

A push to 256 qubits: As mentioned earlier, IonQ is planning to show off its 256-qubit system in 2026, and if successful, that could move its computing power into triple digits.
Delivering the KISTI system: The development and deployment of its 100-qubit Tempo system for South Korea’s KISTI will be a critical real-world test, unlocking more government and enterprise orders.
Expanding partnerships and use cases: IonQ has existing relationships with businesses such as Amazon, NVIDIA, Hyundai, and Airbus, and new deals would help validate commercial demand.
Turning progress into revenue: With 2025 sales still under $100 million annually, even doubling or tripling sales in 2026 is possible.

Key risks to keep in mind:

Scaling risk is real: Moving from dozens of qubits to hundreds is a tremendous engineering leap, to say the least, and any delays or other issues can quickly reset expectations.
Competition is closing in: Tech giants, including the likes of IBM and Google, have significantly deeper pockets and parallel roadmaps.

IonQ’s latest price targets

IonQ stock is currently trading at nearly $46; that said, here are three major analyst price targets heading into next year:

Jefferies:$100 (Street-high)
Mizuho: $90 (Buy)
Wedbush:$60 (Outperform, initiated December 2025)