Amazon Takes an Equity Stake in IonQ—Any Upside Potential?

Key Points

• Amazon has taken a new equity stake in quantum computing company IonQ, betting on the future growth potential for this industry.
• More than just a bet, IonQ is tightly related to Microsoft Azure and AWS, making it the likely winner in that race.
• One Wall Street analyst sees massive upside ahead, a bold call being reiterated by recent institutional buying.

The latest wave of artificial intelligence arrives, but this time, the focus isn’t on the companies producing the chips and semiconductors needed to develop and train these models.

Instead, the main profit comes from the processing power and emerging technologies that today’s AI is generating—or quietly developing behind the scenes.

That new technology is called quantum computing, and it offers a new way of examining the entire industry and its future potential.

Before investors think it is too early or too speculative to get involved now, they should look at what the leading names in the technology sector are already doing regarding cloud computing and its affiliation with quantum computing.

A significant indicator of the pace of technological adoption and the likely winner of the race is Amazon.com Inc.'s NASDAQ: AMZN decision to acquire a new equity stake in IonQ Inc. NYSE: IONQ. This recent move sparked a new interest in this quantum computing company.

For reasons that will become clear shortly, it is a worthy name for investors to consider today.

Why IonQ Won Amazon’s Favor

Following the acquisition of a new $36.7 million equity stake in the quantum computing company, Amazon has expressed direct interest in forming a closer affiliation with one of its partners within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment for cloud computing services.

As IonQ already provides quantum computing aid to Amazon and its competitors, other cloud computing players like Microsoft Inc. NASDAQ: MSFT may have considered making the move Amazon just made, but that’s besides the point. The key point is that it doesn’t matter who initiated the move for IonQ; what's important is that the move was made.

This directly points investors in the right direction for the future of quantum computing; it’s as if they could spot the big industry moves into semiconductor and chipmakers ahead of the rest of the market, figuring out who the winner would likely be.

For that reason, the following factors should be kept front and center for investors considering a potential buy in IonQ stock, which trades at only 70% of its 52-week high, to provide enough of an upside gap to be filled in the coming months to justify having some exposure in this technology race.

Markets React to IonQ’s Positioning

Even before the Amazon announcement, it seems that interest in shares of IonQ was already on the higher end of the spectrum. These are some of the key indicators investors should consider as they seek to identify additional upside in this company.

First, on one side of the equation, a new 34.9% boost in holdings by institutional buyers from the Bank of New York Mellon, as of early August 2025, represents a net stake worth $48.9 million in this quantum computing name.

This addition represents institutional interest and a vote of confidence in the company’s future potential.

With this in mind, other indicators are coming from other market participants, this time on the short side of the balance. Over the past month, 4.2% of IonQ’s short interest declined as more and more investors realize how much further growth there could be in the world of quantum computing.

Even with this decline, there are still $1.4 billion worth of open short positions, or 13.9% of IonQ’s float, creating a very real possibility of a short squeeze. If the stock reacts aggressively bullishly to the Amazon stake and further institutional buying, a sharp rally could force short sellers to close down their positions at a loss (which involves buying the stock).

That additional buying pressure could send the stock to even higher prices, potentially retesting its old 52-week highs or blowing past them. Last but not least, another sign of optimism is coming out of Wall Street, as one analyst decided to take an above-consensus view in late July 2025.

Kevin Garrigan from Rosenblatt Securities initiated his coverage on IonQ stock with a Buy rating (above the current Moderate Buy consensus) and a $70 per share valuation. This valuation is significantly above the consensus view of $45 per share and implies a 75% upside potential from today’s prices.

Garrigan's bold forecast could soon become a reality as more of the market realizes why Amazon chose to go with IonQ in the first place, spreading further optimism and bullishness for the company and its future upside potential.