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IONQ

Why IonQ Stock Keeps Going Up

April 15, 2026 — 11:24 am EDT

Written by

Rich Smith for

The Motley Fool->

Key Points

- IonQ won a DARPA contract this week.

- It also promised to report earnings in three weeks.

- Meanwhile, Nvidia has big news for the entire quantum computing sector.

- 10 stocks we like better than IonQ ›

For the fourth day in a row, IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) stock is flying.

Shares of the biggest name in quantum computing systems (IonQ is worth more than $13 billion, nearly as much as Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ: QUBT) combined) soared 16.2% through 10:50 a.m. ET Wednesday on a slew of good news.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

Image source: Getty Images.

First up: DARPA

As my fellow Fool Keith Noonan pointed out yesterday, IonQ just won a contract to develop advanced quantum-computing systems for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA -- the Pentagon's mad scientists division).

IonQ didn't say how much the Heterogeneous Architectures for Quantum (HARQ) program will be worth to it, and admittedly, DARPA contracts can be very small to start with. They can also get very big over time, however. DARPA, if you recall... invented the Internet.

Next up: Nvidia

The other big news moving IonQ stock this week comes straight out of Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which yesterday unveiled its Nvidia Ising AI model for controlling quantum computers. Nvidia says its new AI can correct quantum computer output errors up to 3x faster than traditional approaches.

What does this mean for IonQ stock?

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's goal is to make Nvidia's AI semiconductor chips "essential to making quantum computing practical," and thereby shoehorn Nvidia into a quantum computing market estimated to be worth $11 billion annually by 2030.

That's good news for Nvidia investors. But if Nvidia Ising can also reduce errors and make quantum computing more reliable, it may be great news for quantum stocks like IonQ as well.

Tune in to find out just how good things may get after market close on May 6, when IonQ is due to report its Q1 2026 earnings.

Should you buy stock in IonQ right now?

Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and IonQ wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $573,160!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,204,712!*

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See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 15, 2026.

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.