Morning briefing · Tue, Jun 16
Quantum is crashing while everything built on top of AI is quietly winning
Quantum computing stocks are getting wrecked this week while AI software and robotics keep climbing. The market is sending a clear message: picks and shovels are for dreamers right now. Revenue-generating AI is the trade.
The quantum trade is falling apart in real time. $RGTI dropped nearly 20% in a single day and is down 17% on the week. The broader Quantum Computing theme is off 8.26% over the same stretch. A small financing announcement from a quantum company couldn't stop the bleed. This is a sector that is still years from producing reliable, commercial-scale machines, and the market is finally pricing that reality back in.
Meanwhile, the money that left quantum had to go somewhere. AI Software and Hyperscale, the companies that write and sell software powered by large AI models, gained 2.61% today and nearly 2% on the week. Robotics is up 3.73% for the week. $PLTR, the data analytics and AI platform company, is up 5.25% today alone.
The smart funds already told you this was coming. Altimeter Capital, run by Brad Gerstner, has 28.6% of its portfolio in $NVDA and is deep in software names. Situational Awareness LP holds $NVDA as its second-largest position at 11.5%. These funds own the infrastructure and the application layer. They passed on quantum entirely.
The rotation is not subtle. AI that works today is winning. AI that promises to work someday is losing.
*When the speculative fringe cracks and the infrastructure holds, that is not a mixed signal, it is a hierarchy being established.*