D-Wave Backlog Jumps to $38.3 Million as Revenue Rises 21%

D-Wave Quantum reported third-quarter revenue of $4.5 million, up 21% year over year, and a contract backlog of $38.3 million, up from $2.9 million a year earlier. The company disclosed the figures on Tuesday ahead of an 8 a.m. Eastern call. Remaining performance obligations, the value of signed orders not yet recognized as revenue, now stand more than thirteen times above the level at Sept. 30 last year.

Nine-month bookings reached $37.4 million, a 611% increase. Third-quarter bookings alone fell 19% to $1.9 million. D-Wave expects about 59% of the backlog to convert to revenue within 12 months.

"Our triple-digit increase in year-to-date bookings and robust pipeline reinforce our confidence in the opportunity ahead," CEO Alan Baratz said.

What drove the revenue mix?

Professional services revenue rose by $1.5 million and quantum-computing-as-a-service, or QCaaS, grew by $0.8 million. System sales fell by $1.5 million. The company's investor presentation put QCaaS revenue at $2.2 million against $1.4 million a year earlier, and professional services at $2.0 million against $0.5 million.

The shift toward lower-margin services cut GAAP gross margin to 52.9% from 71.4%. Operating expenses rose 84% to $55.9 million, driven by $12.3 million more in personnel costs plus higher stock compensation and amortization. The adjusted EBITDA loss widened 83% to $37.7 million. The net loss narrowed to $48.2 million, or $0.13 a share, from $140.0 million, because the year-ago quarter included a $121.9 million warrant remeasurement charge. D-Wave gave no revenue forecast.

Quarterly figures derived from SEC filings by MLQ.ai show the revenue recovery from the second quarter:

Quarter	Revenue	Gross profit	Net loss	EPS
Q3 2025	$3.7M	$2.7M	($140.0M)	($0.41)
Q2 2026	$3.1M	$1.7M	($48.0M)	($0.13)
Q3 2026	$4.5M	$2.4M	($48.2M)	($0.13)

Where does the cash and CHIPS money go?

Cash and marketable securities totaled $503.4 million at Sept. 30, down from $836.2 million a year earlier. The decline follows $252.8 million in net cash spent on the Quantum Circuits acquisition in January.

D-Wave signed a definitive agreement for up to $100 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding. The money is released in installments as the company meets milestones. The Commerce Department received a minority, non-controlling equity stake as a condition of the deal.

The funding supports two systems on the company's roadmap: a 100,000-qubit annealing machine and a 10,000-qubit gate-model system designed to deliver 100 logical qubits.

What shipped in the quarter?

D-Wave delivered a 4,400-qubit Advantage2 system to Como, Italy, for the Q-Alliance. It opened a beta of its gate-model simulator to BBVA, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and others. The company signed partnerships with CGI and LG CNS.

NTT DOCOMO moved a second D-Wave-powered application into production. The application cut peak location registration signals on its network by 65.3%.

Companies mentioned include D-Wave Quantum, NTT DOCOMO, BBVA, CGI, LG CNS, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and the U.S. Commerce Department.

D-Wave must now convert its $38.3 million backlog into recognized revenue while funding a hardware roadmap that still produces a quarterly operating loss eight times its annualized sales run rate.