Quantum News Nexus

D-Wave Quantum, a provider of quantum annealing systems, announced a €10 million (a little over $11.6 million USD) agreement with Swiss Quantum Technology SA (SQT) to deploy one of D-Wave’s Advantage2 annealing quantum computers at half capacity in a deal which also includes an option to buy the full system. 

The announcement was made by D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz at Digital Innovation Forum – ComoLake 2025 in Italy, which sure sounds like a fun event to attend on a corporate expense account.

Baratz, a sharp advocate for his company and the sector, and sometimes just a tad prickly when someone says quantum computers are decades away, explained during a brief press conference from the event, “Under the agreement, Swiss Quantum Technology will be paying 10 million euros for access to half the capacity of the Advantage2 quantum computer over a five-year period, and an option to acquire the full system. Access to the system will be through D-Wave’s Leap Quantum Cloud service, and it will be accessible throughout Italy in support of the Q-Alliance Initiative, and help to drive breakthrough research, innovative industrial applications, and the development of a quantum workforce in Italy.”

SQT appears to be a partnership of multiple firms, and is based in Pazzallo, Switzerland, not far from Italy’s Lombardy region and the Lake Como area.

Let’s unpack: The Advantage2 is a system of more than 4,400 qubits, which was long in the works at D-Wave and became generally available last May. The agreement is only for half the system capacity, so if things work out D-Wave has a bigger payday in its future. 

But don’t call it a lease. A company spokesperson told QNN this morning after I suggested it sounded like a lease, “This is not a lease. SQT is buying half the capacity of the system with option to buy the rest. This is the first Adv2 agreement of this nature.”

It will be interesting to see if similar deals arise, though that likely will depend at least in part on how a buyer plans to use the system, and how much capacity they think they will need at the start. In his press conference appearance, Baratz said NTT DoCoMo is using Advantage2 for cell tower optimization, and a Turkish joint venture involving Ford Motor Co. is using the system as well, although these might be earlier prototype versions of the system.

The new agreement came just a day after D-Wave was announced, along with IonQ, as a founding participant in Italy’s Q-Alliance, which is seeking to build “the world’s most powerful quantum hub” in the Lombardy region. Specific plans beyond that grand claim were not detailed in the initial announcement. Like many countries around the world, Italy has a national quantum strategy, and has been taking steps to increase its profile in the sector through announcements like the 2023 demonstration of a SEEQC quantum computer and a plan to deploy a 54-qubit IQM Radiance quantum computer. To date, the country could not be described as a leader in quantum development, but it is clearly looking to change that perception.

Baratz added in a press release,  “As Europe extends its quantum leadership, we believe that D-Wave’s production-grade annealing quantum computing technology will serve as a critical component, fueling quantum application development and adoption now.”

“Traditional computing is reaching its limits—not just in performance, but in energy efficiency,” stated Enrico De Mitri, CEO of SQT in the same release. “Hosting an Advantage2 system reinforces our commitment to help meet the growing need for advanced computation without accelerating energy consumption. We believe D-Wave’s technology could be essential in delivering powerful solutions with a significantly smaller energy footprint.”

Following the announcement, D-Wave’s stock price (NYSE: QBTS) was down almost 2% as of early afternoon Oct. 15 as quantum stocks across the board were on the decline. That comes after QBTS soared more than 130% over the last month.

This announcement also follows last month’s news of a proof-of-technology project in which D-Wave worked with the North Wales regional police in the UK on a hybrid quantum-classical application for optimizing police vehicle placement.

Image: Screen capture from Digital Innovation Forum – ComoLake 2025

Quantum News Nexus is a new site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.