IonQ (IONQ) CEO, Niccolo de Masi, has successfully anchored investor expectations to the AQ 64 hardware milestone as the primary gateway to the 2040 quantum economy. However, while institutional resilience has remained high following a record-breaking first quarter in 2026, the underlying physics that drive IonQ’s massive upside also create a symmetric, high-magnitude downside risk. The current market capitalization, which has fluctuated near $21 billion following the May 6 earnings report, assu
