The hidden dangers behind the crazy rise of quantum computing stocks: tech giants are snatching jobs.

Recently, quantum computing stocks have been on fire—IONQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave have seen price increases of 90%, 1860%, and 1530% respectively over the past year, far exceeding the 20% rise of the Nasdaq.

Why is it so fierce? Mainly due to three factors:

The market has a large imagination space — Boston Consulting estimates that Quantum Computing could add $450 to $850 billion in value to the global economy by 2040; Major companies are using it — Amazon and Microsoft have integrated the computing capabilities of these quantum companies into their cloud services; Financial outlook is positive — JPMorgan announced in October that it would invest in 27 “subfields”, including Quantum Computing.

But there is a big pitfall here: the first mover advantage of pure Quantum Computing companies may not be sustainable.

Companies like Alphabet and Microsoft, which are cash cows, are now developing their own quantum chips. Microsoft's Majorana 1 aims for 1 million quantum bits, and Alphabet's Willow is already 13,000 times faster than the fastest classical supercomputer.

The key issue is that these giants have unlimited capital, ecosystems, and customer bases. Small quantum companies burn through their funding everywhere, and in the end, they are likely to be crushed by the open-source solutions or self-developed products of the big players.

To put it simply: partners that seem reliable today might turn into competitors tomorrow. With such exaggerated stock price rises, the risks are correspondingly large.