Quantum computing is generating some excitement among investors – a nice change from the relentless onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) developments in recent years. alphabetGoogle recently announced a significant breakthrough with its Willow quantum chip in error correction and pure quantum computing stocks IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) has seen its shares rise rapidly in recent months.

IonQ builds quantum computers and develops quantum network technology. Although the company is not profitable, it generates significant revenue. Recent contracts with the US Air Force Research Lab and the University of Maryland added to IonQ’s momentum, with the company more than doubling revenue to $12.4 million in the third quarter.

The potential of quantum computing is certainly real. By harnessing the strange properties of quantum mechanics, a quantum computer made up of qubits can perform certain classes of computing tasks exponentially faster than a traditional supercomputer.

While the bits of a conventional computer are always in one of two states, the qubits of a quantum computer are much fuzzier and exist as a superposition of both states. This quantum weirdness opens up the possibility of solving problems that are virtually impossible for even the most powerful conventional supercomputer.

While IonQ is in the early stages of what could very well be the next big technological breakthrough, it’s important for investors to remember one important thing: A quantum computer has never outperformed a traditional supercomputer in a real-world, commercially relevant application. Companies like IonQ, Google and IBM have built ever more powerful and powerful quantum computers, but they have only been useful for solving toy problems.

The first computer that could reasonably be called a quantum computer was built by IBM in 1998. More than 25 years later, the field of quantum computing has made dramatic progress, but quantum computers are still not commercially viable.

It is unlikely that commercial viability will be achieved in the foreseeable future. IBM aims to deliver a 200-qubit quantum computing system with sufficient error correction to solve large-scale problems by 2029. However, it is difficult to predict whether this system will be useful beyond research and science.

IonQ is now worth almost $10 billion. This rating is supported solely by the company’s perceived long-term potential, not its current results. For IonQ to prove an investment, quantum computing technology must not only become commercially viable before the company runs out of capital and ability to raise capital, but it must also become an industry leader.

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