IonQ is in 'the beginning of an exciting era,' CEO says as Nvidia deal lifts stock

What happened: Shares of IonQ ( IONQ ) rallied 5% on Wednesday after the company announced a breakthrough in quantum computing and a new collaboration with AI chip heavyweight Nvidia ( NVDA ).

What's behind the move: IonQ revealed it will install its quantum computer, called Superion 256, at Nvidia's Accelerated Quantum Research Center in Boston, where it will be connected directly to the AI chip giant's infrastructure.

"We see this as the beginning of an exciting era of hybrid quantum-classical computing," said IonQ chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi in a statement.

The companies will use the system to conduct research on financial modeling and portfolio optimization, as well as on chemistry for drug discovery.

What else you need to know: IonQ shares also got a lift from a breakthrough announced on Tuesday in which the company said its system can now detect and correct errors using a single standard CPU.

The breakthrough "removes a major bottleneck in fault-tolerant quantum computing," the company said.

Quantum stocks have been volatile this year, with the sector j umping in April after IBM ( IBM ), D-Wave Quantum ( QBTS ), Rigetti Computing ( RGTI ), and Infleqtion ( INFQ ) announced they had signed letters of intent with the Department of Commerce to receive funding for research and development projects.

Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.