D-Wave Systems

D-Wave Quantum Inc. is a quantum computing company based in Burnaby, British Columbia, with a US presence in Palo Alto, California. It is known for building and selling systems that use quantum effects, and it presents itself as the first company to commercially supply quantum computers.

D-Wave’s machines are not general-purpose, gate-model quantum computers. Instead, they focus on quantum annealing, a specialised approach designed mainly for optimisation and sampling problems, where the goal is often to find good solutions under many constraints.

The company was founded in 1999 by Haig Farris, Geordie Rose, Bob Wiens, and Alexandre Zagoskin, with early ties to research activity in British Columbia. D-Wave publicly demonstrated an early “Orion” prototype in 2007, and in 2011 announced the D-Wave One system, which it described as the first commercially available quantum computer. Over time, D-Wave released several generations of annealing systems, including D-Wave Two, 2X, 2000Q, and later the Advantage line.

A major part of D-Wave’s strategy is cloud access. In 2018, it launched the Leap quantum cloud service, aimed at giving developers and organisations real-time access to D-Wave systems, alongside tooling and learning resources. The company also provides software tooling for building optimisation models and running hybrid workflows that combine classical and quantum resources.

D-Wave has worked with well-known organisations and labs, and its early customer set included groups such as Lockheed Martin, NASA/Google collaborations, USC, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 2025, D-Wave announced the sale of an Advantage system to Forschungszentrum Jülich, with installation at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, supporting research and hybrid computing work.

D-Wave’s claims and benchmarks have also attracted debate. In 2025, it promoted results suggesting very large performance gaps for a materials-style simulation, while some scientists and commentators argued that such demonstrations may not translate to broad, everyday computing workloads.

D-Wave began in 1999 in British Columbia. It was founded by Haig Farris, Geordie Rose, Bob Wiens, and Alexandre Zagoskin. In its early years, it operated in and around Vancouver and used laboratory space linked to the University of British Columbia (UBC), while building a network of academic collaborators and funding research activity. Over time, the company moved to Burnaby, British Columbia, and also established a US presence in Palo Alto, California.

From the start, D-Wave took a different route from most quantum computing groups. It focused on quantum annealing (also connected to the adiabatic model), aimed mainly at optimisation-style problems, rather than building a universal, gate-model quantum computer.

A key early public milestone came on 13 February 2007, when D-Wave demonstrated its Orion prototype at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The company described Orion as a 16-qubit system and showed example applications such as pattern matching, scheduling, and Sudoku-style constraint solving. In December 2009, a Google research team led by Hartmut Neven reported using a D-Wave processor for training a binary image classifier at a major machine-learning conference.

In 2010, Lockheed Martin entered a multi-year relationship with D-Wave that later included the purchase of a system and related services. On 11 May 2011, D-Wave announced D-Wave One, which it presented as the first commercially available quantum computer, based on a 128-qubit annealing processor. In 2012, researchers reported running protein-folding instances on a D-Wave One system. In 2013, D-Wave moved to a 512-qubit generation (often referred to as D-Wave Two), and a NASA/Google/USRA collaboration launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab using a D-Wave system at NASA Ames for research including machine learning. 

In 2014, D-Wave received wide public attention, including a cover feature in Time. The company also pushed an applications ecosystem, working with partners such as 1QBit and DNA-SEQ to target practical problems. In 2015, it announced the D-Wave 2X (over 1,000 qubits in marketing terms, with practical yields varying by processor) and reported installation at NASA Ames.

In 2017, D-Wave released the 2000Q system and expanded its software tooling, including open-source components such as qbsolv for quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation workflows. In October 2018, it launched Leap, a cloud service aimed at giving users real-time access to D-Wave systems alongside developer tools and learning resources.

By 2020, D-Wave introduced the Advantage generation, built around a processor design with 5,000+ qubits and higher connectivity (Pegasus topology). In August 2022, D-Wave completed a business combination with DPCM Capital and began trading publicly as D-Wave Quantum Inc. under the ticker QBTS.

In March 2025, D-Wave announced results it described as “quantum supremacy” for a quantum simulation task, publishing and promoting the work while also drawing criticism and competing analyses from parts of the research community. In May 2025, it announced the general availability of Advantage2, describing improvements such as Zephyr topology and 4,400+ qubits, delivered through Leap and for on-premises deployments. It also reported European expansion through system deployments and agreements linked to high-performance computing environments. 

Today, D-Wave operates as a public company led by CEO Alan Baratz and positions Leap and Advantage2 as its main commercial platform, while continuing research, customer deployments, and public events such as its Qubits 2026 user conference (scheduled for 27–28 January 2026 in Boca Raton, Florida).

The mission of D-Wave Quantum Inc. is to deliver practical quantum computing solutions that can be used today to solve real-world problems. The company focuses on building, operating, and supporting quantum systems that help organisations improve decision-making, optimisation, and research outcomes. D-Wave aims to combine quantum hardware, cloud services, software tools, and professional support into one integrated platform. Its mission is centred on making quantum computing accessible, reliable, and useful for businesses, governments, and research institutions, rather than treating quantum technology as a purely experimental or future concept.

D-Wave’s vision is to make quantum computing a normal part of everyday computing for complex problems. The company sees quantum technology as a practical tool that works alongside classical systems, not as a replacement for them. Its long-term goal is to help organisations handle problems that are too large or complex for traditional computers, especially in optimisation, artificial intelligence, and scientific research. D-Wave also aims to grow the global quantum ecosystem by supporting developers, researchers, and industry users through cloud access, open tools, and education, while continuing to improve system scale, performance, and reliability.

D-Wave has received recognition for its role in advancing commercial quantum computing. In 2025, it was named a winner in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech Awards in the Computing, Chips, and Foundational Technology category, recognising the launch of its Advantage2 system. The company has also gained attention through peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals, including Nature and Science, based on work performed on its systems. D-Wave’s technology and approach have been featured in major media outlets, and it has built long-term relationships with respected research institutions, government bodies, and global enterprises.

D-Wave Quantum Inc. provides a full-stack quantum computing platform that includes hardware systems, cloud services, software tools, and professional services. The company focuses mainly on quantum annealing, a form of quantum computing designed to solve complex optimisation and sampling problems that are difficult for classical computers.

At the core of D-Wave’s offering are its quantum computer systems. The most advanced system currently available is Advantage2. This system is an annealing quantum computer with 4,400+ qubits and uses the Zephyr topology, which increases the number of connections between qubits. Higher connectivity allows larger and more complex problems to be mapped efficiently onto the hardware. Advantage2 is designed for business and research use and can be accessed either through the cloud or installed on customer premises, depending on requirements such as security, regulation, or performance.

Before Advantage2, D-Wave released several system generations, including D-Wave One, D-Wave Two, 2X, 2000Q, and Advantage. Each generation increased qubit count, connectivity, and system stability. These systems established D-Wave as a long-term supplier of operational quantum hardware rather than experimental prototypes.

A major part of D-Wave’s product strategy is its Leap™ quantum cloud service. Leap provides real-time, secure access to D-Wave quantum computers over the cloud. Users can submit problems, run workloads, and retrieve results without managing physical quantum hardware. Leap is built for enterprise use, offering high availability, security controls, and integration with classical computing environments. It supports both direct quantum access and hybrid solvers, which combine quantum processing with classical algorithms to handle very large problems.

D-Wave also offers hybrid quantum-classical solvers through Leap. These solvers allow customers to work with problems containing up to millions of variables and constraints, far beyond what current quantum hardware alone can handle. The hybrid approach is a key part of D-Wave’s commercial value, as it enables practical use cases today rather than waiting for future hardware improvements.

For developers and researchers, D-Wave provides Ocean™, a suite of open-source software tools and libraries. Ocean is mainly Python-based and helps users formulate optimisation problems, submit them to quantum or hybrid solvers, and analyse results. Ocean supports standard mathematical models such as quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation (QUBO) and constrained quadratic models. These tools are available through GitHub and are also integrated into the Leap platform.

In addition to technology products, D-Wave offers professional services through its Launch™ programme. This service supports organisations from early problem identification through proof-of-concept development and into production deployment. The Launch programme includes technical guidance, solution design, performance testing, and optimisation support, helping customers apply quantum computing effectively within existing business processes.

D-Wave also provides training and education services, including online courses, workshops, and documentation. These resources are designed to help developers, analysts, and decision-makers understand quantum annealing, problem modelling, and hybrid workflows.