Q&A with D‑Wave CEO Alan Baratz on the Quantum Circuits acquisition, error-correcting quantum systems, its Davidson and Anduril defense collaboration, and more
“If 2025 was the international year of quantum, 2026 is the international year of D-Wave Quantum,” said CEO Dr. Alan Baratz.Forums:r/QBTSstockForums:r/QBTSstock:D-Wave Quantum CEO on what's next after the most eventful month in the company's history
Context & Ripple Effects
D-Wave had already signaled a dual-track strategy: pursuing gate-model computing while continuing its long-running annealing work in its earlier gate-model and annealing roadmap. The $550M agreement to buy Quantum Circuits gives that strategy a concrete technology and organizational vehicle.
This interview matters as a status marker after the deal announcement, tying D-Wave's error-correction ambitions to named defense collaborations with Davidson and Anduril rather than treating the acquisition as a standalone transaction.
First-order effects
- D-Wave must now integrate Quantum Circuits' error-corrected gate-model technology into its product and research strategy, while Quantum Circuits becomes part of a larger quantum-computing supplier.
- The Davidson and Anduril collaborations give D-Wave specific defense-facing relationships against which it can position its quantum systems work.
Second-order effects
- Rival quantum vendors face added pressure to show credible paths to error correction and to explain how their architectures translate into customer deployments, not just hardware milestones.
- Defense-oriented collaborators and prospective customers gain another quantum supplier pursuing both annealing and gate-model approaches, but will assess D-Wave on execution across the combined technology stack.
Third-order effects
- If D-Wave can integrate the acquisition successfully, quantum suppliers may increasingly compete on portfolios spanning multiple computing approaches and error-correction roadmaps rather than on qubit counts alone.
- The defense collaborations point to a broader premium on quantum companies that can align technical development with mission-oriented customers; whether that becomes durable demand depends on usable system performance.
The trend: Quantum computing is shifting from single-architecture hardware narratives toward platform strategies that pair error-correction roadmaps with targeted government and defense relationships.