While most quantum computers are still lab machines you can't really use, one branch has been selling its machines to business customers for over a decade. Its secret is to "give up" from the start — instead of trying to do everything like a general quantum computer, it built a machine that's good at exactly one thing: finding the best answer among a vast number of options. Its method is to let the quantum system "flow downhill" to its own lowest-energy point, like a drop of water finding the bottom of a valley. This is the story of Quantum Annealing and D-Wave, the company that dared to go against the whole industry.
Contains
Theme index· base 100 · USD total return
No index history for this theme yet.
News & notes movingQuantum Annealing
Quantum Annealing▲5impact 4
IBM's Anderon Finalizes $1 Billion CHIPS Act Quantum Foundry Award
Anderon, an IBM subsidiary, finalized a $1 billion research-and-development award from the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The funding will support Anderon's efforts to advance quantum wafer manufacturing at its facility in Albany, New York, where a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry serves customers across the quantum industry. IBM has put up $1 billion of its own money alongside the federal award, and production is underway with quantum wafers already in process. The Anderon award is part of a broader $2 billion package distributed across nine quantum computing companies under the CHIPS and Science Act, with GlobalFoundries in line for $375 million and D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion each expected to receive $100 million; each of the nine firms will give the federal government a minority ownership stake in exchange for the funding. The finalization follows a letter of intent between IBM and the Commerce Department announced in May, and last week Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantinuum each finalized $100 million deals with the department. IBM stock fell 3.3% on Wednesday and has declined nearly 19% this year.
Rigetti Q2 Revenue Rises to $5.1 Million as Costs and Losses Widen
Rigetti Computing reported second-quarter 2026 revenues of $5.1 million, up from $1.8 million a year earlier, driven mainly by sales of its 9-qubit Novera systems and related products. Customer concentration remains elevated, with one client contributing 64% of quarterly revenues and another accounting for 16%, while the company's $8.4 million C-DAC quantum system for India is expected to be recognized only after installation and acceptance testing in the fourth quarter of 2026. Operating expenses jumped 48% year over year to $30.3 million, including a 53% increase in research and development spending to $20.7 million, producing an operating loss of $28.1 million. Rigetti holds $541.3 million in liquidity, but management expects R&D investments and capital expenditures to remain elevated as it expands cryogenic infrastructure and fabrication capacity. Among peers, IonQ signed an $8.18 million commercial agreement with Congruity360 and launched its sixth-generation Superion 256 platform, while D-Wave Quantum finalized a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $100 million in CHIPS Act funding.
IonQ CEO Predicts Q-Day by 2028 as Shares Fall 5.78%
IonQ chief executive Niccolo de Masi used the company's investor day to predict that Q-Day, the point at which today's encryption falls, will arrive in 2028, but the market response was muted as shares fell 5.78% to $38.13 and are now down 15.02% year to date. The company reported Q2 revenue of $80.05 million, up 286.8% year over year, yet GAAP operating expenses ran to $417.3 million, adjusted EBITDA was negative $120.3 million, and stock-based compensation alone was $141.8 million, undercutting de Masi's claim that IonQ's systems do not become a lot more expensive as they grow more powerful. IonQ closed its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater, raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $280 million to $290 million, and grew remaining performance obligations 297% year over year, with cash of $1.24 billion at quarter end, though management declined to provide combined-company guidance. The 256-qubit system is scheduled to begin commissioning in the first half of 2027, and roughly 50% of Q2 revenue was international while 60% was commercial. Among peers, Rigetti Computing reported Q2 revenue of just $5.14 million and is down 31.2% year to date, while D-Wave Quantum posted $3.08 million in revenue and is down 34.53% year to date, against NVIDIA's $96.22 billion in Q2 revenue, up 105.8% year over year. Analysts carry an average price target of $67.68 on IonQ, which trades at a price-to-sales of roughly 65.
Quantum Stocks Rally on $100 Million Government Funding
Quantum computing stocks rallied Tuesday after three companies secured $100 million each in U.S. government funding, while IonQ raised its 2026 revenue forecast. D-Wave, Rigetti, and Quantinuum each received $100 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce through the CHIPS and Science Act, with the government taking minority equity positions. The funding is earmarked for research and development, not immediate sales, helping recipients tackle technical challenges as they scale quantum systems. IonQ separately lifted its 2026 revenue outlook to $450 million to $460 million from $280 million to $290 million, and introduced its Superion 256 platform with customer deliveries planned for 2027. In trading, D-Wave Quantum gained 6%, Rigetti Computing rose 4%, Quantum Computing added 2.6%, and IonQ climbed 2% even as the broader market fell.
Quantum Computing Inc. Faces Profitability Challenges Amid Revenue Growth
Quantum Computing Inc. reported second-quarter 2026 revenues of $5.6 million, up from $61,000 a year earlier, but still posted a gross loss of about $1.2 million, highlighting that production volumes are not yet sufficient to absorb fixed costs. Operating expenses surged 114% year over year to $21.8 million, driven by higher R&D personnel costs, increased sales and marketing, and $7.3 million in acquisition-related expenses. The company spent approximately $180 million in cash to acquire Luminar Semiconductor, NuCrypt, and NHanced Semiconductors in the first half of 2026, adding integration and execution risks. Peer D-Wave Quantum saw first-half revenues decline to $5.93 million from $18.10 million, while Rigetti's second-quarter revenues rose to $5.1 million, but with high customer concentration. QCi's shares have fallen 47.9% over the past year, and it trades at a forward price-to-sales multiple of 34.61X versus the industry median of 4.09X.
D-Wave Quantum shares fell 8% to $17.79 in midday trading Wednesday after the company disclosed that CFO John Markovich will retire effective September 2, with Greg Golkov stepping in as acting CFO. The decline dragged IonQ down 3% to $40.68, while Rigetti Computing slid 5% to $16.12 and Quantum Computing Inc. slipped 1% to $8.35, though the Defiance Quantum ETF barely moved at $148.27, confirming the selloff as name-specific. D-Wave, which has a market cap of $6.57 billion and is pre-profit, reported Q2 revenue of $3.08 million, missing the $4.03 million estimate, while remaining performance obligations reached $40.7 million, up 668% year over year. The company stated the resignation was not due to any disagreement, and CEO Alan Baratz credited Markovich with raising over $900 million in capital and taking the company public in 2022.
D-Wave Quantum's stock has dropped about 21% over the past three months even as its contracted backlog grew nearly eightfold to $40.7 million by the end of June. First-half 2026 bookings reached $35.5 million, six times the $5.9 million of revenue recognized in the same period, with revenue down from $18.1 million a year earlier largely because $13.7 million of that came from a single annealing system sale. Management expects to ship two annealing quantum computers in the fourth quarter, including a $20 million machine for Florida Atlantic University, and says the fourth quarter should carry most of the year's revenue. Six customer applications are now in production, supplying over 37% of first-half subscription revenue compared with 9.8% a year earlier, with AT&T cutting a network task from about an hour to under 15 seconds and NTT DOCOMO reducing location registration signals by roughly 65%. The company posted a first-half adjusted EBITDA loss of $69.9 million against $546.2 million of cash and marketable securities, and the stock trades at more than 600 times trailing sales.
Quantum Stocks Face Reality Check as QUBT and QNT Stand Out
Quantum computing stocks are entering a more demanding phase in the second half of 2026 as investors shift focus from qubit milestones to revenue visibility and commercialization. Quantum Computing Inc. reported second-quarter revenue of $5.6 million, up from $61,000 a year earlier, with a contract backlog of approximately $42.5 million, while Quantinuum's second-quarter revenue rose 279% year over year and it raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $28-$32 million. IonQ posted a 287% year-over-year revenue increase and raised its 2026 outlook to $280-$290 million, but carries a Zacks Rank #4, while D-Wave's first-half bookings surged 1,120% yet second-quarter revenue was only $3.1 million, essentially flat. Analysts' average price targets imply upside of 125.2% for Quantum Computing Inc. and 77% for Quantinuum.
Quantum stocks surge after Q2 results show significant improvement
Quantum computing stocks surged on Friday after second-quarter earnings reports showed significant revenue gains across the sector. D-Wave climbed 7% after BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $35 price target, citing an addressable market opportunity of $450 billion to $850 billion. Rigetti jumped 9% as system and component sales reached $4.1 million, up from zero a year earlier, while Quantum Computing leaped 8% after revenue rose to $5.6 million from $65,000. IQM Quantum Computers popped 7% after second-quarter revenue increased 27% year over year to $7.8 million and it guided full-year revenue of $49 million to $55 million, and Infleqtion surged 9% on a 112% year-over-year revenue jump. IonQ increased 7.5% after announcing a partnership with the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation to expand quantum computing access to Canada-based researchers and businesses.
BMO Starts D-Wave Quantum at Outperform With $35 Target
BMO Capital initiated coverage of D-Wave Quantum with an Outperform rating and a $35 price target, implying roughly 85% upside from the latest close, sending the stock up 2% on Friday. Analyst Harsh Kumar sees D-Wave as relatively well positioned in quantum computing because it already generates commercial revenue and works across both annealing and gate-model systems, and he expects broader adoption as businesses move from experimentation toward practical applications. D-Wave reported $35.5 million in bookings during the first half of 2026, a more than 1,120% increase from the prior-year period, while remaining performance obligations climbed 668% to $40.7 million. Second-quarter revenue was about $3.1 million, below expectations, and the company posted a $0.13-per-share loss compared with the $0.09 loss analysts had projected.
BMO starts chip coverage with Outperform on Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron
BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage of the semiconductor and quantum computing sector with an upbeat outlook, favoring AI-exposed names and analog chipmakers emerging from a post-COVID downturn. Nvidia is BMO's top large-cap pick with an Outperform rating and a $340 price target, as analyst Harsh Kumar said its AI systems are fully booked for the next 12 months and called the stock's 18x forward price-to-earnings multiple a discount. Broadcom was also rated Outperform with a $455 target, Micron at Outperform with a $1,300 target, and AMD, Marvell and Semtech at Outperform with targets of $550, $250 and $155 respectively. In analog, BMO initiated Analog Devices, Microchip and Impinj at Outperform with targets of $430, $95 and $220, while MACOM was started at Market Perform. The firm sees the DRAM and NAND market growing from $215 billion in 2025 to $780 billion this year, and in quantum computing initiated D-Wave at Outperform with a $35 target, while rating Skyworks Market Perform with a $70 target.
D-Wave Quantum shares have gained just 0.6% since its Aug. 6 second-quarter earnings report, trailing IonQ, Rigetti and the S&P 500 as investors prioritize near-term financial execution over long-term technology milestones. Second-quarter revenues were essentially flat year over year and 19.5% below the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $37.1 million. Bookings were only $2.1 million after a $33.4 million first-quarter haul, though first-half bookings surged 1,120% to $35.5 million. The outlook is improving with $40.7 million of remaining performance obligations, 57% expected to convert within 12 months, two system deliveries planned for 2026, and production applications already generating 37.3% of first-half QCaaS revenues. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter 2026 revenue is $3.95 million, a 5.7% improvement over the year-ago reported number, with a loss per share expectation of 7 cents, narrower than the year-ago 41 cents loss. For full-year 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is $38.63 million, a 57.1% improvement over the 2025 reported number, and the projected EPS loss narrows to 28 cents from $1.11 in 2025. The stock trades below both its 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages, with the 50-day average remaining below the 200-day average, offering no strong technical confirmation of a potential trend reversal. QBTS trades at a 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 110.17 times, compared with approximately 5 times for the S&P 500, and its three-year median P/S ratio stands at 87.89 times. The short-term average price target of $35.79 implies 71.49% upside from the last close of $20.87, and Zacks maintains a Rank #3 Hold rating, supporting a wait-and-watch approach until execution improves.
Quantum Computing Stocks Show Strong Analyst Upside in August
Wall Street analysts see significant upside in three quantum computing stocks—Rigetti Computing, IonQ, and D-Wave Quantum—despite their speculative nature and recent volatility. Rigetti leads with an implied upside of about 81.4% based on a $28.81 target versus its $18.67 close, supported by a letter of intent for up to $100 million in CHIPS Act funding and a 185.3% year-over-year revenue jump to $5.14 million. IonQ posted record Q2 revenue of $80.05 million, up 286.8% year over year, raised full-year 2026 guidance to $280–$290 million, and carries a 68.19% implied upside from its $46.84 close. D-Wave's first-half bookings surged to $35.5 million from $2.9 million a year earlier, with AT&T integrating its annealing platform to cut processing time from one hour to under 15 seconds, though its implied upside is the smallest at 19.7%.
IonQ and Quantinuum Pull Ahead in Quantum Computing Race
IonQ and Quantinuum are emerging as leaders in the quantum computing sector, driven by superior accuracy and strong second-quarter results. IonQ's revenue surged 287% to $80.1 million, beating estimates, with 60% from commercial customers and a backlog of $485 million. Quantinuum's revenue jumped 279% to $8 million, and its partnership with Oracle to integrate its Helios system into Oracle's cloud infrastructure is seen as a game changer. Both companies use trapped-ion technology, achieving over 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity, far ahead of rivals like D-Wave and Rigetti, whose accuracy lags significantly.
Rigetti's commercial quantum sales expand as peers report mixed results
Rigetti Computing reported that its first two 9-qubit systems delivered in 2026 went to commercial customers, marking a notable shift from a year or two ago when commercial demand was largely absent. Management attributed a significant portion of first-half revenue growth to commercial organizations purchasing on-premises quantum systems, while the broader pipeline now spans commercial enterprises, universities, and governments. The company's $8.4 million C-DAC order for a 108-qubit system remains on track for fourth-quarter revenue recognition, and the HPE-Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center collaboration is expected to place a full 9-qubit Rigetti system into an HPC environment in 2027. D-Wave Quantum posted $3.1 million in second-quarter 2026 revenues, essentially flat year over year, with commercial enterprises accounting for roughly 62.4% of revenues, up from 45.1% a year earlier. IonQ completed its acquisition of SkyWater Technology, creating a U.S.-based quantum foundry and strengthening its control over semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging, and supply-chain capabilities.
D-Wave Quantum Partners With Nasdaq Verafin on Financial Crime Detection
D-Wave Quantum has entered a partnership with Nasdaq Verafin to apply quantum computing to financial crime detection. The collaboration focuses on using D-Wave's quantum solutions to address complex financial crime analytics in the banking and financial services sector. The agreement marks an expansion of D-Wave Quantum's commercial work into real-world risk and compliance workflows beyond research settings. The partnership places D-Wave's quantum tools directly inside financial crime and compliance workflows in the banking sector, though it remains a proof-of-concept amid sizeable net losses and forecasts that do not yet point to profitability over the next three years.
D-Wave Quantum Secures NRC Funding and Publishes Nature Gate Breakthrough
D-Wave Quantum announced in August 2026 that it secured up to C$300,000 in funding from Canada's National Research Council and published peer-reviewed Nature research on a high-fidelity, hardware-level error-correcting two-qubit gate already integrated into its dual-rail gate-model systems. The government-backed software project and fault-tolerant gate-model breakthrough underscore D-Wave's effort to commercialize both annealing and gate-model quantum platforms for complex, real-world optimization and simulation workloads. The Nature paper directly reinforces D-Wave's dual-platform story and its long-term gate-model roadmap, connecting the near-term push to make Advantage2 more useful through better software with a tangible hardware step toward fault tolerance. However, the modest NRC grant and gate breakthrough do not materially change the near-term picture, where the key catalyst remains scaling real-world deployments and the biggest risk is persistent heavy losses if rising R&D and go-to-market spend fail to translate into larger, recurring contracts.
D-Wave Quantum reports Q2 revenue flat at $3.1 million
D-Wave Quantum reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.1 million, essentially flat compared to the prior year, while bookings jumped 59% to $2.1 million. The company's first-half revenue fell 67% to $5.9 million due to a non-recurring $13.7 million system sale in 2025, but first-half bookings surged 1,120% to $35.5 million, driven by a $20 million system contract with Florida Atlantic University. Remaining performance obligations reached $40.7 million, up 668% year over year, with 57% expected to be recognized as revenue within 12 months. Commercial customers accounted for 62.4% of second-quarter revenue, up from 45.1% a year earlier, and Forbes Global 2000 customers represented 47.7% of total revenue versus 20.4% in the prior-year quarter. The company maintained guidance for two system deliveries in 2026 and expects fourth-quarter revenue to comprise the majority of annual revenue.
Quantum Computing Market Projected to Reach $21.86 Billion by 2035
A new report from ResearchAndMarkets.com projects the global quantum computing market will grow from $1.93 billion in 2026 to $21.86 billion by 2035, a compound annual growth rate of 30.92%. The study highlights accelerating commercial momentum, including IonQ's record $80 million in second-quarter 2026 revenue and D-Wave's 1,120% bookings growth, alongside expanded cloud quantum deployments by Alphabet's Google and Microsoft. Key drivers include rising demand for high-performance computing beyond classical limits, growth of Quantum-as-a-Service platforms, and increasing government funding. North America leads the market, while optimization remains the dominant application and the banking, financial services, and insurance sector is the top end-use industry.
D-Wave Awarded Up to CAD $300,000 from National Research Council of Canada for Annealing Quantum Computing Software
D-Wave Quantum Inc. has been awarded up to CAD $300,000 in funding from the National Research Council of Canada's Applied Quantum Computing Challenge program to advance annealing quantum computing software for commercial applications. In collaboration with the NRC, D-Wave's team in Burnaby, British Columbia, will develop next-generation graph minor-embedding algorithms for the Zephyr topology and integrate them into the open-source Ocean software development kit. These algorithms are expected to expand the scale and complexity of computations that D-Wave's Advantage2 systems can address across use cases including logistics, manufacturing, scheduling, resource allocation, machine learning, and quantum and materials simulation. The project aims to help organizations solve larger and more complex optimization problems on D-Wave's Advantage2 annealing quantum computers.
D-Wave's first-half bookings jump over 1,100% to $35.5 million
D-Wave Quantum reported first-half bookings of $35.5 million, up more than 1,100% from $2.9 million a year earlier, even as trailing-12-month revenue fell 44% to $12.4 million. The bookings surge includes a $20 million system sale whose revenue will be recognized in future quarters, while remaining performance obligations reached $40.7 million, up 668%. The company's market value climbed 38% to $7.5 billion, roughly 600 times trailing revenue and about 190 times its remaining performance obligations. D-Wave's net loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $48 million, and adjusted operating expenses rose 76% year over year.
Quantum Computing results may signal inflection point near, analysts say
Quantum Computing's second-quarter results and the closure of its NHanced Semiconductor acquisition may indicate an inflection point is near, according to Wall Street analysts. Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson noted the company delivered a Dirac-3 optimization system to a global consulting firm and that its NeuraWave photonic reservoir computing platform reached commercial readiness, securing an initial five-unit order from Planck Dynamics under a framework agreement with an aggregate program value above $10 million. Bryson maintained a Neutral rating and $12 price target, calling Quantum Computing the most speculative public quantum name. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Troy Jensen, with a Neutral rating and $10 price target, estimated the company could capture at least 5% of the quantum hardware, software, and services market by 2035, equating to $375 million in sales, with a present value of $159 million and an implied market cap of roughly $2.2 billion.
AT&T Expands D-Wave Quantum Computing Deal for Network Operations
AT&T has agreed to expand its use of D-Wave Quantum's computing technology across its network operations, moving from proof-of-concept testing to broad operational deployment. The telecom giant plans to apply D-Wave's platform to additional workloads including outage detection, technician routing, and traffic management after early testing cut an optimization workload's processing time from one hour to under 15 seconds. D-Wave ended the second quarter with approximately $546.2 million in cash and marketable securities, while hedge fund ownership rose to 26 funds in the first quarter from 22 in the prior quarter. The expanded deal provides important validation for D-Wave's quantum computing platform, which targets optimization problems such as routing and scheduling.
D-Wave Surges 11% on Nasdaq Verafin Deal, IonQ Gains 9% After SkyWater Buyout
Quantum computing stocks rallied sharply on Monday, led by D-Wave Quantum's 11% surge to $20.08 after announcing a collaboration with Nasdaq Verafin to develop quantum-hybrid applications for fraud detection, and IonQ's 9% jump to $39.62 following the close of its approximately $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology. The broader NASDAQ 100 rose 1.52% amid easing Middle East tensions, amplifying the sector's deal-driven gains. Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing rose 9% and 8% respectively, riding the risk-on sentiment despite no company-specific news, though both remain unprofitable. The Defiance Quantum ETF, which offers diversified exposure with a holdings-weighted P/E ratio of 28.34x, gained a more restrained 3% to $145.45 and is up 31% year to date.
Benchmark Analyst Sees Up to 90% Upside for IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave Quantum
Benchmark analyst Gary Mobley, a top 4% Wall Street performer, issued Buy ratings on three quantum computing stocks—IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum—citing a portfolio approach to the emerging sector. Mobley set a $60 price target on IonQ, implying roughly 65% upside, while the Street’s average target of $69.31 suggests 90% potential gain. He assigned Rigetti a $25 target for 67% upside, compared with the consensus $30.71 target pointing to 105% upside. For D-Wave, his $30 target implies 66% upside, while the average analyst target of $37.58 indicates a 108% gain. Mobley highlighted IonQ’s fully integrated quantum solutions and its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater, Rigetti’s modular chip architecture and partner ecosystem, and D-Wave’s unique dual annealing and gate-model approach bolstered by its $550 million purchase of Quantum Circuits.
IonQ Outpaces D-Wave Quantum on Revenue Growth, Making It the Better Buy in 2026
IonQ emerges as the preferred quantum computing stock over D-Wave Quantum for 2026, driven by far stronger revenue growth and a broader technology portfolio. IonQ reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $130.0 million, a 201.9% year-over-year increase, while D-Wave posted $24.6 million, up 178.5%. IonQ’s first-quarter 2026 sales reached $64.7 million, representing 755% year-over-year growth, compared to D-Wave’s $2.9 million, an 81% decline from the prior year. IonQ’s acquisition of SkyWater Technology provides end-to-end quantum chip capabilities, and its solutions span networking, cybersecurity, and space applications. D-Wave’s acquisition of Quantum Circuits expands its technology into gate-model quantum computers, and it secured a $100 million U.S. government award in May, but its revenue trajectory and narrower focus make IonQ the stronger pick.
AT&T expands use of D-Wave's quantum annealing, cutting network optimization from one hour to under 15 seconds
AT&T is expanding its use of D-Wave Quantum's annealing-based quantum computing technology across multiple network operations workflows, reporting that a key network optimization workload was reduced from about one hour to less than 15 seconds. The expansion follows D-Wave's addition to the NASDAQ Composite Index and could support the investment narrative that annealing quantum systems are moving from proofs of concept to repeatable commercial workloads. However, D-Wave still faces risks including reliance on a few large contracts and widening operating losses, with the company projecting $173.5 million in revenue and a $21.0 million profit by 2029, requiring 140.7% annual revenue growth and a $389.0 million earnings swing from a current loss of $368.0 million.
D-Wave Quantum shares rise as AT&T expands use of its annealing quantum computing technology
D-Wave Quantum shares jumped Monday after AT&T announced it is expanding its use of the company's quantum computing technology across its network operations. The expanded deal follows a pilot program in which D-Wave's annealing quantum computing cut processing time for a network optimization workload by 240 times, from roughly one hour to 15 seconds. D-Wave's stock remains down more than 26% in 2026, and the company continues to post relatively little revenue compared to its losses. However, D-Wave reported more than $42 million in remaining performance obligations, a 563% year-over-year increase, which alongside the AT&T deal may signal growing commercial traction.
D-Wave Quantum Rises 7% on Expanded AT&T Deal, Lifting IonQ, Rigetti, Quantum Computing Inc.
D-Wave Quantum shares rose 7% to $19.29 after announcing an expanded agreement with AT&T to deploy its annealing quantum systems across network operations. An early application cut a network optimization workload from about one hour to under 15 seconds, a 240x speedup, and AT&T plans to extend the work to outage detection, technician routing, network build planning, and traffic management. Benchmark initiated D-Wave at Buy with a $30 price target. Sympathy moves lifted IonQ 12% to $36.67, Rigetti Computing 12% to $15.88, and Quantum Computing Inc. 8% to $8.06, while the Defiance Quantum ETF rose 1% to $141.12. Rigetti also announced an expanded collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to build TangleLab, a hybrid quantum-classical supercomputing testbed funded by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant, with full operations expected in 2027. Despite the rally, D-Wave trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 482.56 against trailing revenue of $12.44 million, and the pure-play quantum names remain down 16% to 29% year to date.
Micron, energy, and biotech stocks move premarket on chip debut, oil dip, and Forte buyout
Memory stocks rose broadly after Chinese chipmaker CXMT debuted on the Shanghai public market with its stock surging more than 466%, lifting U.S.-listed peers including Micron Technology which advanced 2.5%. Energy stocks followed oil prices lower after the U.S. and Iran agreed to pause attacks, with Chevron down 2.7%, ExxonMobil down 3.2%, and APA, Devon Energy, and Diamondback Energy each falling around 4%. Forte Biosciences rallied more than 39% on news it will be acquired by Netherlands-headquartered Argenx for $2.2 billion in cash, or $77 per share, a 40% premium to Friday's close. Baker Hughes gained nearly 2.2% after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue, with the CEO citing favorable fundamentals and reaffirming full-year guidance. D-Wave Quantum rose more than 7% after announcing a partnership with AT&T to use its annealing quantum computers for AI, while IonQ gained nearly 4.5% and Rigetti Computing added 3.8%.
D-Wave to Ring Nasdaq Opening Bell on July 27 to Mark Listing Debut
D-Wave Quantum Inc. will ring the Nasdaq Opening Bell on July 27, 2026, to mark its listing debut on the exchange following a voluntary transfer of its common stock listing. CEO Dr. Alan Baratz and the management team will participate in the ceremony at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, broadcast live at 9:15 a.m. ET. The company, which describes itself as the only dual-platform quantum computing provider offering both annealing and gate-model systems, says the move to Nasdaq begins a new chapter as it accelerates commercial momentum. D-Wave serves more than 100 enterprise, government, and research customers through on-premises systems and its Leap quantum cloud service.
IonQ and D-Wave slump while Nvidia quietly builds quantum infrastructure
Shares of quantum computing pure plays IonQ and D-Wave Quantum have tumbled over the past month, with IonQ down 37% and D-Wave off 28%, even as Nvidia positions itself as an essential supplier to the entire sector. IonQ reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $64.7 million, up 755% year over year, and raised its full-year guidance to between $260 million and $270 million, while D-Wave’s quarterly revenue fell 81% to $2.9 million, though its bookings jumped to $33.4 million. Both companies remain heavily reliant on government contracts and proposed Chips Act funding, with IonQ holding $3.1 billion in cash and equivalents versus D-Wave’s $588 million. Nvidia, which generated $81.6 billion in total revenue in its fiscal first quarter of 2027, launched NVQLink in October 2025 to connect quantum processors to its GPUs, and its CUDA-Q platform has been adopted by 17 quantum hardware developers including IonQ. Because every major quantum program now requires Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs, the company stands to benefit regardless of which quantum computing firm ultimately succeeds, making it a lower-risk way to gain exposure to the emerging technology.
D-Wave Quantum's $6.2 billion valuation far outruns its $12.4 million revenue
D-Wave Quantum's stock may not be a millionaire-maker given its high valuation relative to its tiny business. The company has a market capitalization of $6.2 billion but generated only $12.4 million in revenue over the past year, with Wall Street expecting revenue to grow to $42.8 million this year and $85.8 million next year. The stock trades at about 72 times next year's revenue estimate, and reaching a $100 billion market cap would be a very tall task in an overcrowded quantum computing industry where total industry revenue was just $1 billion in 2025, according to McKinsey. D-Wave Quantum also faces intense competition from established tech firms like International Business Machines, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Alphabet, and it burned through $102.7 million in free cash flow over the past four quarters with a net loss of $368 million.
Analysts project more than 99% upside for D-Wave Quantum over the next 12 months, driven by a 2000% year-over-year surge in quarterly bookings. Mizuho raised its price target on the stock from $29 to $35 on June 15, maintaining an Outperform rating after the company's first Analyst Day presentation. The firm highlighted D-Wave's annealing and superconducting roadmap targeting a quantum computing total addressable market of roughly $450 billion to $850 billion by 2040, with gate-based quantum computing potentially adding another 75% on top of annealing. D-Wave also updated long-term financial targets, expecting gross margins of 65% to 75% for Quantum Computing as a Service, 40% to 50% for Professional Services, and 75% to 90% for Computing Systems.
D-Wave Quantum Stock Surges 42.9% in a Year, Outpacing Industry
D-Wave Quantum shares have surged 42.9% over the past year, significantly outperforming the industry's 14.2% decline and the S&P 500's 23.1% gain. The company's commercial momentum carried into the first quarter of 2026, with bookings up 1,994% from the year-ago period, and over two dozen commercial customers represented more than 31% of bookings. The largest order was a $20 million system sale to Florida Atlantic University, and remaining performance obligations stood at $42.4 million as of March 31, 2026. D-Wave is extending its product set into gate-model computing following the Quantum Circuits acquisition in January 2026, targeting roughly 175 physical qubits by the end of 2028 and 10 logical qubits by 2030. First-quarter 2026 revenues fell to $2.9 million from $15.0 million in the prior-year quarter due to the absence of a comparable system sale, though deferred revenues increased to $11.6 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate projects 2026 revenues of $40.16 million, up 63.3%, and 2027 revenues of $91.76 million, up 128.5%.
D-Wave Quantum vs. Rigetti Computing: Which Quantum Computing Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing are compared as quantum computing investments for 2026. D-Wave reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $24.6 million, a 178.5% increase, with a net loss of $355.1 million, while Rigetti posted revenue of $7.1 million, a 34.3% decline, and a net loss of $216.2 million. D-Wave recently acquired Quantum Circuits Inc. to add gate-model computing to its annealing technology, and it received $100 million in U.S. government funding, whereas Rigetti focuses on modular superconducting processors and faces high customer concentration from government contracts. The author favors D-Wave due to its broader technology platform and government backing, though both companies carry significant risks from ongoing losses and competition.
D-Wave named a Leader in IDC MarketScape quantum computing assessment
D-Wave Quantum has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Quantum Computing 2026 Vendor Assessment, becoming one of only two companies placed in the Leaders Category. The recognition highlights D-Wave’s commercial deployments across manufacturing, telecom, logistics, and defense. The company reported that more than 200 million problems have been submitted to its systems, with usage of its Advantage2 system increasing 314% year-over-year and its Stride hybrid solver growing 114% over six months as of early 2026. CEO Alan Baratz said the IDC recognition validates the company's execution, commercial traction, and long-term strategy, emphasizing a focus on delivering real-world quantum solutions today. D-Wave is also expanding its dual-platform technology covering both quantum annealing and gate-model quantum computing.
Kalshi traders see low odds for OpenAI government stake deal this year
Kalshi contract traders remain highly skeptical that a deal will materialize before the end of the year for the U.S. government to take a stake in OpenAI or Anthropic, despite recent reports that OpenAI proposed granting a 5% stake to the Trump administration. Traders see odds of less than 30% for such a stake, according to a CNBC report. In contrast, odds are well over 60% that the government could take a stake this year in quantum computing companies Rigetti Computing or D-Wave Quantum, as well as in semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries.
D-Wave Quantum not a buy now due to steep valuation and early-stage business
D-Wave Quantum is not a buy at the moment, according to an analysis by The Motley Fool. The quantum computing company has a market cap of $8.4 billion but trailing-12-month revenue of just $12.4 million, and its stock trades at roughly 200 times Wall Street's revenue estimates for this fiscal year. While D-Wave Quantum recently secured a $20 million computer system sale to Florida Atlantic University and a $10 million cloud-access deal with a Fortune 100 customer, analysts still project only $42.5 million in revenue this fiscal year and $86.1 million next year. The analysis notes that the company's growth is coming from a very small base and that the competitive landscape remains uncertain, with other pure-play quantum firms and large tech giants developing their own systems. Investors buying now would be betting on a best-case scenario, and there is far more room for the stock to decline than to rise.
IonQ vs. Quantum Computing Inc.: Which Quantum Computing Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
IonQ and Quantum Computing Inc. present contrasting investment cases in the quantum computing sector. IonQ reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $130.0 million, a 201.9% increase, but posted a net loss of $510.4 million, while Quantum Computing Inc. generated just $682,000 in revenue with a net loss of $18.7 million. Both companies carry no debt, with IonQ holding a current ratio of 15.5x and Quantum Computing Inc. at 102.4x. IonQ faces regulatory scrutiny over its pending $1.8 billion SkyWater Technologies acquisition and high short interest of 22%, whereas Quantum Computing Inc. contends with supply chain risks and integration challenges from recent acquisitions. The analysis concludes IonQ is the better buy due to its consistent revenue growth and customer traction.