D-Wave’s unfilled orders jump 1,221% as quarterly bookings fall (NASDAQ: QBTS)

What happened

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) grew third-quarter revenue 21% to $4.5 million. It reported $38.3 million of remaining performance obligations, up 1,221%.

Remaining performance obligations are orders that cannot be cancelled and that D-Wave has not yet served. The balance was $2.9 million on Sept. 30, 2025. D-Wave expects about 59% of the current balance to become revenue within 12 months and about 71% within 24 months.

Bookings for the first nine months of 2026 reached $37.4 million, up 611% from the same period of 2025. That includes $2.3 million of Quantum Circuits bookings closed just before D-Wave completed that acquisition in January 2026.

D-Wave also signed a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $100 million of CHIPS and Science Act funding. The money comes in installments as D-Wave meets set milestones and conditions. In return, the Commerce Department gets a minority, non-controlling equity stake.

Key numbers

Metric	Latest	Change	Source
Third-quarter revenue	$4.5 million	from $3.7 million, +21%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Remaining performance obligations	$38.3 million	from $2.9 million, +1,221%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Bookings, first nine months	$37.4 million	from $5.3 million, +611%	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Bookings, third quarter	$1.9 million	from $2.4 million, -19%	SEC 8-K, Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2
Net loss, third quarter	$48.2 million	from $140.0 million, -$91.8 million	SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1
Cash and marketable investment securities	$503.4 million		SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1

Read more: D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) company research

Where revenue and losses stand

Growth came from services, not systems. Professional services revenue rose $1.5 million and quantum computing as a service revenue rose $0.8 million. System sales fell $1.5 million.

Gross margin slipped to 52.9% from 71.4% a year earlier. D-Wave blames mainly a higher share of lower-margin professional services revenue, plus a $0.2 million rise in non-cash stock-based compensation.

GAAP operating expenses reached $55.9 million, up $25.5 million or 84%. Personnel costs added $12.3 million and non-cash stock-based compensation added $4.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $37.7 million, up $17.0 million or 83%.

The net loss narrowed to $48.2 million, or $0.13 per share, from $140.0 million a year earlier. D-Wave says this came mainly from a $121.9 million drop in non-cash charges for remeasuring its warrant liability. All remaining public warrants were redeemed in November 2025.

That non-cash swing explains the smaller net loss, not better operations. Adjusted EBITDA loss, which excludes warrant remeasurement, grew because D-Wave spent more on product development and go-to-market work.

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What customers and partners added

The strongest evidence comes from annealing. NTT DOCOMO deployed its second production application built on D-Wave's hybrid quantum technology. It cut daily peak location registration signals by 65.3% and paging signals by 7.0%. A representative problem covering 333 base stations finished in about five minutes.

D-Wave delivered a 4,400+ qubit Advantage2 system for installation at Villa Saporiti in Como, Italy, funded by Swiss Quantum Technology SA. A SkyWater proof-of-technology cut lot delays by up to 30% and will move to a proof-of-concept.

D-Wave also formed a partnership with CGI to add its platforms to CGI's services portfolio. It signed a memorandum of understanding with LG CNS. It launched a gate-model simulator beta program with participants including BBVA, FirstQFM, Florida Atlantic University and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre. It recognized revenue from more than 100 customers, 48% of them commercial enterprises.

Why it matters

OptimistFi has argued that D-Wave is a high-risk bet that its annealing systems can become a practical optimization platform. The DOCOMO production results and the jump in contracted orders support that view. The small revenue base and the widening adjusted EBITDA loss keep the risk high, so the filing moves the case in both directions.

Three facts temper the order build. Third-quarter bookings were $1.9 million, down about $0.4 million or 19% from a year earlier. D-Wave says quarterly bookings swing with the timing of larger deals. Revenue for the first nine months was $10.4 million against $21.8 million a year earlier. The CHIPS money is conditional, not cash in hand.

The balance sheet gives D-Wave room to keep spending. Cash and marketable investment securities totaled $503.4 million on Sept. 30. Cash and equivalents alone fell to $279.4 million from $635.3 million at Dec. 31, 2025. Operations used $109.0 million over nine months. The Quantum Circuits purchase took $252.8 million net of cash acquired.

What's next

D-Wave hosts a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 10 with CEO Alan Baratz and Acting Chief Financial Officer Greg Golkov to discuss results and its business outlook.

The cleaner test is conversion. If about 59% of the $38.3 million order balance becomes revenue within 12 months, as D-Wave expects, the orders become real sales. Delivery of the CHIPS milestones would show the government funding turning into cash. Those milestones unlock the installments toward a 100,000-qubit annealing computer and a 10,000-qubit gate-model computer.

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