Zacks: skip volatile quantum pure-plays, buy IBM, Alphabet, Amazon

The Zacks note arrives at a moment when two very different spending curves are running side by side. Hyperscalers are no longer treating AI as a future bet: they are committing hundreds of billions of dollars to data centers, accelerators, networking and power to meet surging AI demand, and Alphabet's planned $195-$205 billion of 2026 capital spending is the clearest illustration of that scale. Google Cloud revenues jumping 82% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 shows that money is already meeting commercial demand.

Quantum computing, by contrast, is earlier in its arc. Governments and corporations are increasing funding as the technology moves closer to practical applications, but commercial revenues remain far smaller and the investment timeline considerably longer. The U.S. government's recent $300 million commitment under the CHIPS and Science Act — $100 million each to D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing and Quantinuum, in exchange for minority government stakes — is a sign of official interest rather than proof of a market. D-Wave and Rigetti stayed more than 25% below their 2026 starting levels even after that announcement.

That gap is the reason Zacks steers readers toward IBM, Alphabet and Amazon for the quantum theme: they already carry businesses with current commercial demand to support the investment case, so the long quantum timeline can be absorbed rather than bet on outright. The caution looks well founded given that McKinsey notes return on investment remains difficult to quantify because many quantum applications are still experimental or hybrid, even as it projects revenues rising from more than $1 billion in 2025 toward $4.4 billion by 2028. Whether that revenue materializes — and whether hyperscaler AI spending keeps growing — is what the coming months will test.