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Collision 2019 - Day One
Alan Baratz of D-Wave Quantum (David Fitzgerald/Getty Images)
quantum beef

Why D-Wave Quantum’s CEO was “quite disappointed” with Nvidia’s Quantum Day

“I expected it to be a bit more thoughtful and respectful,” said D-Wave Quantum CEO Dr. Alan Baratz.

Luke Kawa

Back in January, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a bit of an oopsie. His comments that quantum computers were 15 to 30 years away from being “useful” sparked a massive sell-off in pure-play quantum computing stocks.

To try to make amends with the industry, Nvidia announced that it would be hosting a Quantum Day to discuss the industry’s progress, which was part of last week’s GTC.

There, Huang made another oopsie by revealing that when he made those remarks about quantum computing in January, he didn’t even think any of these firms were publicly traded. That’s despite Nvidia partnering with many of these firms on different projects.

We recently interviewed D-Wave Quantum CEO Dr. Alan Baratz, who runs a very real publicly traded quantum computing company, and asked him for his thoughts on how the event went.

His response:

“I was quite disappointed in how the panel that I was involved in went. I think that it was quite self-serving for Nvidia. I expected that, but I expected it to be a bit more thoughtful and respectful. I was surprised when Jensen said, I didnt even know there were public quantum companies. Seriously?

I was disappointed when he said, well, maybe quantum computers arent really computers, theyre just scientific instruments. Well, OK, if thats true, why are we computing the solutions to problems that cant be computed on your GPUs? I mean, I thought that comment was very kind of derogatory toward the quantum industry and self-serving for Nvidia. And so I just felt that the whole tone and tenor was dismissive of quantum computing and the quantum industry. And that was disappointing to me.”

In San Jose, Nvidia also announced that it would be building an accelerated quantum computing research center in Boston “in collaboration with leading hardware and software makers.”

D-Wave has not been invited to be part of that consortium. That doesn’t bother Baratz too much, though, since he expects the company will be ahead of the curve in pulling off what the chip designer is looking to accomplish, as D-Wave aims to integrate its Advantage quantum computer with a supercomputer in Germany in the near future.

From Baratz:

“We were not approached and yes, it was a mistake. But I’m not too concerned about it because frankly, we’ll probably be up and running with that integration capability at the Julich Supercomputing Center well before it will be up and running in Boston.

I mean, think about it, you know, Jensen is going to provide GPUs for quantum-GPU integration. That’s what we’re doing at Julich with 25,000 GPUs! That will be up and running in months. So no, we were not approached; yes, I think it was a mistake that we are not approached, because we’re quite unique in the quantum industry and I would think that if Nvidia was really interested in understanding how quantum and GPUs relate to one another, you would be interested in doing it with more than just one form of quantum computing. 

But we’re already marching down that path. We’re just doing it at a different facility.”

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Nvidia and SK Hynix strike multiyear partnership on memory chips, AI data center build-out

Nvidia shares are modestly higher after it announced a multiyear partnership with SK Hynix on memory chips and building out AI data centers.

The agreement secures a long-term pipeline of memory chips for Nvidia. At the center of the partnership is the integration of SK Hynix’s high-bandwidth memory chips into Nvidia’s newly unveiled Vera central processing units. The Vera processor is Nvidia’s first stand-alone data center microprocessor designed to compete directly against traditional enterprise server lines.

The collaboration is also structured to reshape how semiconductors are manufactured. Under the terms of the agreement, SK Hynix will implement Nvidia’s CUDA-X library and PhysicsNeMo framework directly into its memory design and manufacturing workflows.

The announcement happened during a high-profile visit to Seoul by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who arrived on June 5 to align with core infrastructure partners. Over the weekend, Huang met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung, and other top South Korean technology executives during a dinner meeting, according to Nvidia’s blog posts and Reuters.

Last week, SK Hynix told investors that its proposed US listing has received strong backing, which would potentially give US investors an alternative way to play the memory chip crunch.

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FuelCell Energy rises as AI data center pipeline overshadows Q2 miss

FuelCell Energy shares rebounded into positive territory during premarket trading, reversing an initial dip sparked by Q2 results that showed widening net losses and a year-over-year revenue decline.

Key numbers:

  • Revenue of $35.6 million (compared to analyst estimates of $40.56 million).

  • An adjusted loss per share of $1.45 (estimate: a $0.50 loss).

That revenue number marks a 5% decrease from the $37.4 million generated during the same quarter last year.

The company’s net loss expanded to $78.7 million, or $1.45 per share, compared to a loss of $38.8 million in the prior-year period. Management attributed the deeper loss primarily to a $42.6 million one-time impairment expense linked to essential equipment upgrades at its Groton Project facility.

While a 9.9% drop in total backlog initially added to the shares’ downward momentum, investors appeared to quickly pivot their attention to the company’s forward-looking metrics. FuelCell highlighted a 267% sequential jump in its sales pipeline, which has reached 4 gigawatts. The surge is driven by demand for its packaged 12.5-megawatt utility-grade power block solution tailored specifically for the booming AI data center market.

To support this high-growth data center strategy, FuelCell announced a major capacity expansion at its Torrington, Connecticut, manufacturing facility. The company plans to raise its annualized production ceiling from 350 MW to 500 MW, an infrastructure upgrade estimated to cost between $200 million and $275 million over the next 24 months.

Driven by the AI data center narrative, FuelCell Energy’s stock has risen over 130% year to date.

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Lilly says its next-gen GLP-1 shot drove 28.3% weight loss, reduced comorbidities

Eli Lilly has risen around 4% in premarket trading after reporting impressive trial results for its next-generation weight-loss drug over the weekend.

According to the results unveiled on Saturday, Lilly’s experimental weight-loss shot, retatrutide, helped patients lose 28.3% of their body weight at 80 weeks. That’s more than tirzepatide, Lilly’s weight-loss shot currently considered the most effective in the market, which helped people lose 26% of their weight over 88 weeks.

Retatrutide is a triple agonist, meaning it mimics three different hormones that promote weight loss, compared to one by Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide and two by tirzepatide. Lilly says it helps preserve more muscle mass than other weight-loss shots and also helped improve knee osteoarthritis pain and obstructive sleep apnea.

Lilly has said it would submit the drug for approval this year with the goal of getting it out to market in 2027. The jab could be the next big moneymaker for Lilly, which currently sells the most lucrative drug in the world but has had an underwhelming rollout of its oral weight-loss pill, which came to market earlier this year.

Retatrutide is already quite popular among those who experiment with peptides, or unapproved injectable drugs often sold online “for research purposes only.” For gym bros trying to attain a certain physique, a drug that has shown it can melt fat while preserving muscle is enticing.

But in a market full of knockoff drugs, will retatrutide enthusiasts pay full price for the drug when it officially goes to market?

markets

Marvell and Flex rise on S&P 500 inclusion announcement

Chipmaker Marvell Technology and electronics manufacturer Flex are jumping 7% and 3%, respectively, in premarket trading on Monday after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced late on Friday that the two companies are set to join the S&P 500 benchmark index.

Replacing Pool Corp. and Campbell’s in the S&P 500, Marvell and Flex’s addition will be effective from June 22, per a press release from the provider, which assesses and updates the index on a quarterly basis.

Marvell has been one of the leading candidates for inclusion across the last few quarterly index rebalances. The company has ballooned into a $230 billion chip giant of late, thanks to the wider AI boom, investors chasing momentum, and, yes, Jensen Huang. Flex, which has been part of the S&P MidCap 400 Index since 2024, has also grown recently, having played a part in the data center boom with a portfolio that spans across infrastructure and cooling systems.

With today’s premarket movement taken into account, MRVL has now risen almost 40% in the last week alone.

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