A Once-in-a-Lifetime Market Opportunity: Is Alphabet or Microsoft Winning the Quantum Computing Race?

Similar to how artificial intelligence (AI) investing has been one of the biggest market drivers over the past few years, quantum computing could be another massive investing wave. Considering that traditional computing has been around for a long time, and the first personal computer could have been purchased 50 years ago, quantum computing has the chance to be a generational investing trend if it takes the same amount of time to be implemented.

Many companies are vying for the top spot in this lucrative field, ranging from smaller pure plays to the most established big tech companies. Two of the big tech companies that have captured the most quantum computing headlines are Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Both of these tech giants have announced innovative quantum computing breakthroughs over the past three months, but is either of them clearly ahead in this important race?

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Both companies have made innovative discoveries

First, let's discuss why quantum computing is a big deal. Traditional computing transmits information in bits, which come in the form of either a 0 or a 1. Quantum computing transmits information in qubits, which can better be described as the probability of information being a 0 or 1. Because qubits aren't exactly a 0 or a 1 but instead a superposition between a 0 or a 1, they can hold infinitely more information than a bit. On the flip side, there are inherent errors in the system because qubits don't have an exact 0 or 1 answer.

This is the biggest hurdle for quantum computing companies right now, as they need to be able to produce answers without errors. Imagine running a program on a quantum computer, and the answer is right 99% of the time. That's not acceptable, and to fix that, you'd likely run the program a few times to ensure that the answer you got is correct. However, the advantage that quantum computing would have over traditional computing is eroded if we run a task multiple times to ensure we get the correct answer.

This problem is being handled in different ways by different firms. Google (a subsidiary of Alphabet) used the chip's geometry to solve this problem. Its Willow quantum computing chip organizes qubits in a grid, making the chip more accurate as it scales up. The Willow chip had 105 qubits and produced less than 1% error for the test it was running.

Microsoft recently announced its Majorana 1 chip, and they invented a new state of matter to help solve this issue: a topological state. This allows them to control qubits digitally without the drawbacks of other quantum computing designs. The Majorana 1 chips currently have eight qubits on the chip but can scale up to 1 million qubits as the technology progresses.

These are two important breakthroughs, but we're still way too far away to understand if one of these innovations is the deciding factor in the quantum computing arms race. As a result, if you're buying either of these two stocks now, you're really buying them for their current businesses in addition to the wild card of quantum computing.

Alphabet looks like a better buy based solely on current business results

Both of these big tech companies have dominant offerings in their respective fields and are huge players in the AI arms race. Additionally, each has a strong cloud computing wing that provides computing power to many clients.

It's hard to say if one company has a better business model than the other, so we'll compare their growth rates and valuations.

On the revenue side, Microsoft has a slight edge over Alphabet in recent and projected growth rates over their current fiscal years.

GOOGL Operating Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts

Microsoft has a slight edge here, but it's hardly one that can be quantified. However, there's a clear edge when it comes to the price you have to pay to either stock.

GOOGL PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Microsoft's stock trades at a 50% premium to Alphabet's, which is rather significant. I'm not sure if the financial results support Microsoft's valuation as 50% higher than Alphabet's, so based on their current business, I'd say Alphabet is the better buy of the two.

However, if you're judging this race based on quantum computing results, then it's too early to tell which company has the better offering. So, buying both companies is a good idea if you're only focused on quantum computing.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.