Insider Brief
- D-Wave Quantum Inc. agreed to acquire Quantum Circuits Inc. for $550 million in stock and cash to combine annealing systems with error-corrected superconducting gate-model technology and accelerate a dual-platform roadmap.
- The deal integrates D-Wave’s scalable superconducting control and cloud platform with Quantum Circuits’ dual-rail, hardware-integrated error-detection approach to reduce physical resources for logical qubits and target a commercially available gate-model system in 2026.
- The acquisition adds a New Haven R&D center led by Quantum Circuits’ team, including Yale physicist Rob Schoelkopf, and is expected to close in late January 2026 subject to regulatory and listing approvals.
PRESS RELEASE — D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) (“D-Wave” or the “Company”), a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, and the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and Quantum Circuits Inc. (“Quantum Circuits”), a leading developer of error-corrected superconducting gate-model quantum computing systems, today announced that the companies have entered into a merger agreement under which D-Wave will acquire Quantum Circuits for a purchase price of $550 million, consisting of $300 million in D-Wave common stock and $250 million in cash. By combining the world’s leading annealing quantum computing company with the world’s leading developer of error-corrected gate-model technology, D-Wave will dramatically accelerate the projected time to a scaled, error-corrected gate-model quantum computer alongside and complementary to its commercial annealing quantum systems.
The acquisition will bring together D-Wave’s deep expertise in scalable control of superconducting processors as well as its production-grade, high-availability quantum cloud platform with Quantum Circuits’ leading approach to error-corrected superconducting gate-model technology. Quantum Circuits’ dual-rail technology with built-in error detection results in higher quality qubits and dramatically lowers the physical resources required for building logical qubits. Combining these technologies is expected to facilitate an accelerated commercial gate-model product roadmap that D-Wave believes will enable it to be the first to deliver fully error-corrected, scaled gate-model quantum computing. This is also projected to significantly expand the exciting use cases addressable by commercial quantum computing. The first deliverable in the accelerated roadmap will be an initial dual-rail system, planned to be generally available in 2026.
As part of the acquisition, Quantum Circuits’ world-class experts in superconducting quantum computing and device physics, including Dr. Rob Schoelkopf, a leading innovator of superconducting qubits and renowned quantum professor at Yale University, will expand D-Wave’s effort with a research and development center in New Haven, Connecticut. Dr. Schoelkopf, the inventor of transmon and dual-rail qubit technologies, is an award-winning world expert in superconducting quantum computing and practical error correction. Over almost three decades, Dr. Schoelkopf and his colleagues at Yale have delivered a series of breakthroughs that form some of the foundations for superconducting gate-model technology.
“With this acquisition, we believe that D-Wave has unequivocally cemented its position as the world’s most advanced and established leader in superconducting quantum computing,” said Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave. “Together with Quantum Circuits, we expect that D-Wave will leapfrog the industry, bringing gate-model products and services to market in 2026 and rapidly progressing our dual-platform strategy of delivering annealing and gate-model systems to address customers’ full breadth of computational problems. It’s a pivotal milestone and one that we believe will secure D-Wave’s long-term value proposition as quantum computing development and adoption accelerates.”
“Fault-tolerant error-corrected quantum computing is within our reach, and this acquisition is expected to significantly speed up the timeline,” said Dr. Rob Schoelkopf, chief scientist and co-founder of Quantum Circuits. “We believe that no other company has a more powerful qubit with built-in error detection. Combining our dual-rail gate-model processor with D-Wave’s scalable control and readout is expected to enable a nearer-term path to large-scale error-corrected gate-model systems. With aggressive roadmaps for both annealing and gate-model technology and a common track record of technology delivery, Quantum Circuits and D-Wave together are in a unique position to address the full spectrum of quantum computing technology.”
“I am incredibly proud of the Quantum Circuits team and the years of innovation that led to our breakthrough in hardware-integrated error correction,” said Ray Smets, CEO of Quantum Circuits. “By joining forces with D-Wave, we are accelerating the roadmap to commercially viable gate-model quantum computers. Our ‘correct-first’ philosophy is the most viable path to scaling quantum for the enterprise, and the power of this partnership ensures we have the global reach to accelerate delivery of this value to customers worldwide.”
To learn more about D-Wave’s latest product roadmap and accelerated path to error-corrected gate-model quantum computing, join us at Qubits 2026, January 27 and 28, 2026, in Boca Raton, Florida. To register for Qubits 2026 visit: https://www.qubits.com.
The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement, including the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and the approval of listing of the shares of D-Wave common stock being issued as consideration on the NYSE (subject to official notice of issuance). Closing is expected to occur in late January 2026. D-Wave will file a current report on Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission containing a summary of the terms and conditions of the acquisition, as well as a copy of the merger agreement.
Centerview Partners is acting as exclusive financial advisor to D-Wave and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison LLP is acting as legal counsel to D-Wave.
