The stock performance of Nvidia and IonQ has been remarkable, with Nvidia's shares rising 930% and IonQ's by 857% over the past three years.

Nvidia has established itself as a dominant player in the AI semiconductor market, controlling between 70% to 94% of this sector, which has significantly boosted its data center revenue to $39 billion, reflecting a 73% increase.

Given its strong market leadership, robust financial performance, and focus on AI technology, Nvidia is widely regarded as the superior investment choice for those interested in AI-related stocks.

Experts suggest that while both Nvidia and IonQ are not cheap stocks, Nvidia represents a better long-term investment due to its strong market position and favorable growth prospects.

Analyst sentiment strongly favors Nvidia, which has a consensus price target of $175.78, indicating an 11.43% potential upside, while IonQ has not received any buy ratings.

In terms of financial metrics, Nvidia significantly outperforms Amtech Systems, generating $130.50 billion in revenue with an earnings per share (EPS) of $3.10, compared to Amtech's $101.21 million and negative EPS of -$2.22.

While Nvidia's price-to-earnings ratio is around 50, it is still considered a better value than IonQ's extremely high price-to-sales ratio of 217, which indicates that IonQ's stock is very expensive.

Institutional ownership is notably strong for Nvidia at 65.3%, compared to Amtech Systems' 50.2%, although Amtech has higher insider ownership at 8.0% versus Nvidia's 4.2%.

Despite uncertainties in semiconductor demand, Nvidia is well-positioned for future growth, with the semiconductor market projected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2040.

IonQ specializes in quantum computing, which may enhance AI capabilities, but its practical applications are still in the early stages and are expected to be several years away.

Investor interest in IonQ is driven by the transformative potential of quantum computing, despite most practical applications being estimated to be at least five years away.

In terms of volatility, Nvidia has a beta of 2.12, indicating it is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500, while Amtech Systems has a beta of 1.56, showing it is 56% more volatile than the index.