D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) Stock Jumps 70% in a Year — Now the U.S. Government Wants In

TLDR

• D-Wave will issue $100 million in common stock to the Commerce Department under the CHIPS and Science Act
• Funding is tied to R&D milestones including prototype delivery, quantum interconnects, and new fabrication techniques
• CEO Alan Baratz said D-Wave may leverage IBM’s new Anderon quantum foundry to produce its own processors
• Rosenblatt kept its Buy rating with a $43 price target; Stifel reiterated Buy at $35
• Q1 2026 EPS came in at -$0.05, beating estimates of -$0.08, but revenue of $2.9M missed the $4.14M forecast

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D-Wave Quantum held its inaugural investor day Monday at the New York Stock Exchange, and the biggest talking point wasn’t the roadmaps — it was the federal money.

D-Wave Quantum Inc., QBTS

D-Wave, trading around $29.61, is one of nine companies set to receive funding under the Trump administration’s $2 billion quantum investment pledge. Under its deal with the Commerce Department, D-Wave will issue $100 million worth of common stock to the government — giving Washington an ownership stake in the business.

The stock has returned roughly 70% over the past year. Both Rosenblatt and Stifel have Buy ratings on QBTS, with price targets of $43 and $35 respectively.

Funding Comes With Strings Attached

The $100 million isn’t landing in D-Wave’s account overnight. Chief Development Officer Trevor Lanting said the funding is tied to a series of R&D milestones, including the delivery of prototypes, quantum interconnects, new wiring, and what he called “fundamentally new fab techniques.”

CEO Alan Baratz framed the deal as validation of D-Wave’s dual-track strategy — running both quantum annealing systems, tailored to optimization problems, and newer gate-model systems aimed at a broader market.

IBM Foundry in the Crosshairs

One of the more eyebrow-raising moments came when Baratz said D-Wave might use IBM’s upcoming Anderon chip factory to manufacture its own quantum processors.

Anderon, backed by $1 billion each from the Commerce Department and IBM, is being positioned as an open quantum manufacturing facility. IBM’s Jay Gambetta described Big Blue as an “anchor client,” leaving the door open for others. Baratz said D-Wave would “absolutely” use it if the technology fits.

The company also outlined its longer-term roadmap: 100,000 qubits for annealing systems, and a gate-model path to 100 logical qubits by 2032. Near-term targets include a 17-physical-qubit system in 2026 and a 49-physical-qubit system in 2027.

D-Wave reported 26 public customers over the past 18 months and $588 million in liquidity. It’s shifting its revenue model from quantum computing-as-a-service toward system sales, which management sees as a sign of business maturity.

On the financial side, Q1 2026 EPS came in at -$0.05, beating the -$0.08 consensus by 37.5%. Revenue was $2.9 million, missing the $4.14 million forecast by about 30%. Trailing twelve-month revenue sits at $12.44 million and the company remains unprofitable.

Defense interest has been growing. Baratz credited a deal with Anduril Industries and Davidson Technologies — announced at D-Wave’s customer conference in January — as the moment federal interest really picked up. The company now has “a very significant pipeline across many parts of the government, mostly the Department of Defense.”

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