D-Wave Revenue Rises 21% as Customer Deployments Expand And CHIPS Agreement Advances

Insider Brief

• D-Wave reported third-quarter revenue of $4.5 million, up 21% from a year earlier, and $38.3 million in contracted revenue remaining to be recognized.
• Nine-month bookings increased 611% to $37.4 million, although third-quarter bookings declined 19% to $1.9 million.
• The company highlighted customer deployments and conditional CHIPS funding, while operating expenses increased and gross margin declined.

D-Wave Quantum reported a 21% increase in third-quarter revenue as professional services and cloud access sales grew, alongside customer deployments and a federal agreement supporting development of its next quantum computers.

Revenue reached $4.5 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to the company’s earnings release. Nine-month bookings increased 611% to $37.4 million, although quarterly bookings fell 19% to $1.9 million. The company said larger transactions can cause substantial quarterly variation.

“From Seoul to Como to Washington, we are seeing growing interest in D-Wave’s differentiated dual-platform approach and a determination to put our quantum computing technology to work today,” Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave said in the statement. “Our triple-digit increase in year-to-date bookings and robust pipeline reinforce our confidence in the opportunity ahead. We are expanding our commercial reach and executing on both our annealing and gate-model roadmaps with a clear objective: to lead this industry in technical and scientific innovation, measurable customer value and growth.”

Remaining performance obligations — contracted revenue yet to be recognized — totaled $38.3 million, according to the company’s quarterly report filed with the SEC. D-Wave expects approximately 59% to become revenue within 12 months.

The company also reported narrower margins and higher spending as it expanded development and commercial activities.

Services Growth Offsets Lower System Sales

Professional services revenue increased by $1.5 million from a year earlier, while quantum computing as a service revenue increased by $800,000. System sales revenue declined by $1.5 million.

Despite the quarterly increase, nine-month revenue fell to $10.4 million from $21.8 million. The comparison may reflect the timing of system sales. The first half of 2025 included $13.7 million from D-Wave’s first sale of an annealing quantum computer.

D-Wave’s earlier second-quarter release also identified a $20 million system sale within first-half 2026 bookings, with revenue to be recognized in subsequent quarters. Bookings measure customer orders expected to produce future revenue, while reported revenue reflects work delivered or performed under the applicable contracts.

Customer Applications Expand Into Network Operations

NTT DOCOMO deployed a second production application using D-Wave’s hybrid quantum technology to improve mobile network operations, according to the companies.

The application optimizes how geographic tracking areas are grouped. Mobile networks use these groupings to keep track of devices and reach them when needed. Adjusting the groups requires balancing competing demands: reducing one type of signaling can increase another.

The companies reported a 65.3% reduction in daily peak location registration signals and a 7% reduction in paging signals. For a representative problem involving 333 base stations, optimization took approximately five minutes.

NTT DOCOMO incorporated the results into network planning and daily operations. The deployment extends its use of D-Wave technology beyond an earlier application focused on reducing paging signals within tracking areas.

Following quarter-end, D-Wave announced that an Advantage2 annealing computer with more than 4,400 qubits had arrived in Como, Italy, for installation at Villa Saporiti.

Swiss Quantum Technology financed the deployment through a previously announced 10 million euro agreement covering half the system’s capacity for five years, with an option to purchase the full system. The installation is intended to expand access for European researchers, universities and businesses through the Q-Alliance initiative.

Manufacturing and Gate-Model Development Advance

D-Wave also extended its manufacturing partnership with SkyWater through a multiyear agreement covering specialized semiconductor process development and manufacturing.

The relationship spans more than a decade and includes fabrication of Advantage2 processors. Under the agreement, D-Wave will continue working with SkyWater’s Minnesota manufacturing team as it develops subsequent generations of quantum systems.

Separately, the companies completed a proof-of-technology project applying D-Wave’s annealing technology to factory maintenance scheduling. The optimized schedule reduced lot delays by up to 30%, according to the companies.

Further work will incorporate resource availability, technician constraints and other factory requirements.

In October, D-Wave launched a beta program for its gate-model simulator. Participants include BBVA, FirstQFM, Florida Atlantic University and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre.

The simulator allows participants to develop applications and explore programming methods that account for detected errors before D-Wave’s forthcoming gate-model systems become available.

It uses the company’s superconducting dual-rail architecture, which D-Wave says is designed to reduce the additional hardware needed for quantum error correction. Error correction protects quantum information against mistakes that otherwise accumulate during calculations.

Funding Supports Development as Spending Rises

D-Wave said its definitive Commerce Department agreement provides access to up to $100 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding, paid in installments subject to milestones and conditions. The funding is intended to support larger annealing and gate-model computers.

Quarterly gross margin fell to 52.9% from 71.4%, partly because lower-margin professional services accounted for more revenue. Operating expenses rose 84% to $55.9 million.

Net loss narrowed to $48.2 million, primarily reflecting lower warrant-related accounting charges. Adjusted EBITDA loss widened 83% to $37.7 million.

D-Wave ended September with $503.4 million in cash and marketable investment securities.