IonQ Inc ( IONQ ) shares are trading lower Monday alongside several other quantum computing stocks as the quantum sector continues to face selling pressure on the back of cautious commentary from Nvidia Corp ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang.

What Happened: At CES 2025 last week, Huang suggested that quantum computing could be two decades away from practical use.

"If you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said 30, it's probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it,” the Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO said at the consumer technology event.

Quantum stocks sold off in the wake of Huang’s comments with some names falling more than 40%. Meta Platforms Inc ( META ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg also indicated in a podcast last week that quantum computing is “still quite a ways off from being a truly practical paradigm.”

Several quantum stocks are continuing to move lower to start the week, although IonQ ( IONQ ) is holding up better than peers. IonQ ( IONQ ) was down about 10% at last check, while other quantum names were down as much as 26%.

IonQ ( IONQ ) on Monday announced a new research contract with the United States Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) valued at $21.1 million. The company will work to install quantum network infrastructure for AFRL at the Innovare Advancement Center in Rome, New York. The new quantum project will support AFRL’s Quantum Information Science & Technology Branch.

“We are thrilled to deepen our collaboration with AFRL to provide advanced quantum network technologies for the U.S. Air Force, leveraging the team and technology of our recent Qubitekk asset acquisition” said Peter Chapman, president and CEO of IonQ ( IONQ ).

“This is an exciting year for IonQ ( IONQ ) and the quantum industry at large, as we continue to see significant revenue growth for our networking technologies and strong demand for our IonQ Forte Enterprise and Tempo quantum computing systems.”

The new contract builds on the company’s recent $54.5 million agreement with AFRL to develop and deliver hardware that enables the scaling and networking of quantum systems.

IONQ Price Action: IonQ ( IONQ ) shares were down 9.9% at $29.13 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.