D-Wave
Annealing · Founded 1999 · Burnaby, BC, Canada · Public (QBTS)
The oldest quantum vendor and the only one focused exclusively on quantum annealing (with a gate-model add-on announced 2021). Long-standing controversy on quantum-advantage claims. Advantage2 ships 4,400 qubits — more than any gate-model system — but the qubits implement Ising-Hamiltonian-minimization, not universal computation.
Delivered
4
Late
0
Missed
2
Softened
1
Pending
1
Delivery rate (excluding pending): 57%
Our verdict
D-Wave's annealing systems are real, scaled, and used. The hardware claims (qubit count, connectivity) ship on time. The interpretive claims (quantum advantage on optimization workloads) have never survived third-party comparison with simulated annealing on the same problem. Twenty-five years in, the central question is unchanged: is quantum annealing useful, or is it elegant physics that simulated annealing on a laptop matches? Treat the hardware as real, the advantage claims as unproven.
Claims by target year
Target: 2020 · Announced 2017
Pegasus topology and 5,000-qubit system (Advantage)
Outcome: Advantage with 5,000+ qubits and Pegasus connectivity launched September 2020.
Target: 2024 · Announced 2020
Advantage2 with Zephyr topology
Outcome: Advantage2 (4,400 qubits, Zephyr connectivity) launched 2024.
Target: 2024 · Announced 2019
Production quantum-advantage demonstration on real workloads
Outcome: D-Wave has published 'advantage' claims for years; every claim has been challenged by classical simulated annealing or tensor-network methods. As of 2026 no third-party-verifiable advantage on a problem of practical interest has held.
Target: 2024 · Announced 2022
Hybrid quantum-classical solver for problems >1M variables
Outcome: D-Wave Hybrid Solver Service shipped with multi-million-variable problems supported.
Target: 2024 · Announced 2022
Profitability / positive operating margin
Outcome: Continued operating losses through 2024-2025.
Target: 2025 · Announced 2021
Universal gate-model quantum computer
Outcome: Original gate-model timeline (2023-2024) pushed back. Limited gate-model availability through partner program in 2024-2025; production gate-model system not yet launched.
Target: 2025 · Announced 2023
Federal contracts and government deployments
Outcome: Multiple US and allied government contracts publicly announced 2024-2025.
Target: 2027 · Announced 2024
Cross-platform Advantage3 with universal-gate hybrid
Last verified: 2026-05-24