D-Wave Posts 21% Revenue Growth to $4.5M as Bookings Fall

D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $4.5 million, up 21% year over year, while quarterly bookings dropped 19% to $1.9 million. The company counted revenue from more than 100 customers in the quarter, with commercial enterprises contributing 52% of revenue, up from 31% a year earlier.

The quarterly bookings decline tells only part of the story. For the first nine months of 2026, bookings surged 611% to $37.4 million, a figure that includes a $20 million system sale to Florida Atlantic University expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter.

CEO Alan Baratz said the company is working to expand commercial use of its existing annealing quantum computers (systems designed to solve complex optimization and sampling problems) while developing gate-model systems, the rival architecture most of the industry is chasing.

Where the revenue came from

Quantum computing-as-a-service subscriptions (cloud-based access to quantum processors) generated $2.2 million, up 56% year over year. Professional services revenue jumped 318% to $2 million, driven primarily by a significant engagement with a Fortune 100 customer and paid gate-model research projects. Systems and other revenue totaled roughly $360,000.

Growth came at a cost to margins. GAAP gross margin fell to 52.9% from 71.4% a year earlier, mainly because lower-margin professional services made up a larger share of revenue. GAAP operating expenses climbed 84% to $55.9 million on higher personnel costs and other expenses.

The net loss narrowed to $48.2 million, or $0.13 per share — an improvement of $91.8 million from a year earlier. Acting CFO Greg Golkov attributed much of that to a $122 million reduction in noncash charges tied to remeasuring the company's warrant liability in 2025. The adjusted EBITDA loss (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excluding one-time items) still widened by $17 million to $37.7 million on higher operating expenses.

Cash and marketable securities totaled $503.4 million at September 30, down 40% year over year. Golkov said the decline stemmed primarily from roughly $253 million used to acquire Quantum Circuits in January 2026.

The takeaway: D-Wave is growing sales and shrinking its headline loss, but the underlying operating burn is still widening.

What's in the pipeline?

Remaining performance obligations (contracted revenue not yet recognized) totaled $38.3 million at the end of September — more than 13 times the year-earlier balance. D-Wave expects to recognize 59% of that within 12 months and 71% within 24 months.

Golkov said a substantial portion of the Florida Atlantic University sale should be recognized on delivery in the fourth quarter, with additional revenue over the installation period, likely in early 2027, plus smaller recurring amounts from maintenance and cloud access over several years.

The sales pipeline's dollar value rose more than 75% from the end of the second quarter and has more than tripled since the end of 2025, driven by interest in system sales, Golkov said.

Baratz said NTT DOCOMO deployed its second production application using D-Wave's hybrid quantum technology during the quarter. Both NTT applications were developed by the customer and run relatively infrequently, he noted. D-Wave is also working with other enterprises pursuing production applications, including UnitedHealth Group's Optum and AT&T.

In October, D-Wave delivered an Advantage2 annealing system for installation in Como, Italy, funded by Swiss Quantum Technology SA to support application development, workforce skills and commercial adoption.

Baratz expects system sales, cloud services, professional services and partner-driven sales to grow in 2027, though he gave no numerical guidance. System sales could take a larger share of bookings and revenue, he said, because individual deals are typically larger and revenue is recognized faster than with cloud services.

Technology roadmap and government money

D-Wave completed the design of a dual-chip annealing processor and was releasing it for fabrication during the week of the call. The company is developing scalable input-output controls as it works toward larger annealing systems with 20,000 and, ultimately, 100,000 qubits.

On gate-model development, Baratz said D-Wave is on track to complete a 17-qubit system and is discussing orders for 2027 delivery with both existing and new customers. The longer-term roadmap targets a first fully error-corrected, fault-tolerant logical qubit by 2028 and 100 logical qubits reliably executing more than 1 million operations by 2032.

D-Wave also signed a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce providing access to up to $100 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding, subject to milestones. Golkov said none of those funds had been received as of the end of the third quarter.

Partnerships and supply chain

D-Wave extended its relationship with SkyWater through a multiyear semiconductor development and manufacturing agreement. Baratz said the deal gave D-Wave confidence its intellectual property would be protected and that skilled SkyWater personnel would stay involved, while the company qualifies additional suppliers.

A separate proof-of-technology project using D-Wave's technology to optimize maintenance schedules at SkyWater's fabrication facility cut lot delays by up to 30%, Baratz said. That project is now moving to a proof of concept incorporating additional operational constraints.

D-Wave also announced relationships with CGI and LG CNS aimed at helping enterprises develop and deploy quantum applications. Baratz said partner-driven business is just getting started and should begin coming online in 2027 rather than becoming a major sales component immediately.

The bottom line: bookings momentum and a fat contracted-revenue backlog give D-Wave a visible 2027 runway, but the cash cushion is 40% lighter than a year ago.