Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's sobering assessment of quantum computing's timeline sent the space into a tailspin last week. During a question-and-answer session with analysts, Huang suggested that useful quantum computers were likely 15 to 30 years away.

Jensen Huang’s comments at last week’s CES about quantum computing being decades away stirred up discussion within the quantum industry.

Quantum computing holds the potential to radically transform the world. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently poured cold water on some of the hype surrounding quantum computing.

Therefore, Huang's prediction that quantum computers won't go mainstream for 15 to 30 years sounds reasonable. It took Nvidia about two decades for its gaming and professional visualization graphics processing units (GPUs) to evolve into AI accelerators for data centers.

Quantum stocks like Rigetti, IonQ and D-Wave Quantum saw steep losses after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said quantum computers are decades away.

Huang’s statements resulted in many quantum computing stocks, some of which experts have been bullish on, descending into a free fall. These included Quantum Computing, ( QUBT) D-Wave Systems ( QBTS) , and Rigetti Computing ( RGTI) .

All it took to derail a rally that had sent shares of pure-play quantum computing stocks soaring was a single comment from a tech CEO. When Nvidia's Jensen Huang suggested that a