:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2241942383-bc8970ae126b46f69280eb4f45202707.jpg "Why AMD and IBM Shares Just Took Quantum Leaps to Record Highs?")
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Key Takeaways
- Shares of Advanced Micro Devices and International Business Machines jumped Friday following news that readily available and reasonably priced AMD chips can run a key quantum computing algorithm.
- IBM plans to build a quantum computer named Starling by 2029, and the company’s head of research told Reuters the algorithm work was completed a year earlier than expected.
AMD and IBM took quantum leaps on Friday.
Shares in the two companies jumped to record highs after Reuters reported that International Business Machines (IBM) has found that it could run a key quantum computing error-correcting algorithm on an easy-to-get and reasonably priced chip made by Advanced Micro Devices.
Reuters said that a research paper to be released by IBM Monday shows that it can run those algorithms in real time on a kind of chip—called a field programmable gate array semiconductor— manufactured by AMD.
AMD shares, which have more than doubled since the start of the year, were up nearly 7% in mid-afternoon trading Friday. IBM stock surged more than 7%, taking its year-to-date gain to about 40%, making it the second-biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2025. Shares of Micron (MU), which makes memory solutions for AMD and Nvidia (NVDA) chips, rose 5% on Friday.
Why This News Is Significant
For IBM, this breakthrough is progress toward making quantum computers more commercially viable and reliable. For AMD, it shows how affordable, flexible chips are becoming essential in advanced research—and extends the chip maker’s reach in next-generation computing.
Jay Gambetta, director of IBM research, said in an interview that “Implementing it, and showing that the implementation is actually 10 times faster than what is needed, is a big deal,” according to Reuters.
Quantum computers use qubits to solve problems thousands of times faster than conventional computers, Reuters said. However, qubits are prone to making errors that overwhelm quantum chips, and tech companies have been racing to solve the problem.
IBM plans to build a quantum computer named Starling by 2029, and Gambetta told Reuters the algorithm work was completed a year earlier than expected.
