D-Wave Quantum Q3 revenue rises 21% to $4.5 million as bookings jump 611%

D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS) reported third-quarter revenue of $4.5 million on November 10, a 21% increase over the same period a year earlier.

The bigger story is the order book. Bookings for the first nine months of the year reached $37.4 million, up 611% year over year. Revenue is creeping forward. Demand, at least on paper, is sprinting.

The numbers behind the quarter

Start with the top line. Q3 revenue of $4.5 million compares with $3.739 million in the third quarter of the prior year.

Bookings tell a different story. They measure signed commitments from customers, not cash already recognized. On that measure, D-Wave’s nine-month total of $37.4 million represents a 611% jump from a year ago.

Then there are remaining performance obligations, or RPO. This is the contracted work the company still owes customers and has not yet booked as revenue. D-Wave’s RPO reached $38.3 million, a 1,221% increase from the prior year.

The company expects roughly 59% of that backlog to turn into revenue within the next 12 months.

Government money, new hardware and real customers

The company secured up to $100 million in CHIPS Act funding from the US Department of Commerce.

D-Wave also delivered Italy’s first annealing quantum computer, a system with more than 4,400 qubits. Annealing is a specific flavor of quantum computing built for optimization problems.

That optimization focus showed up in a customer result. NTT DOCOMO, the Japanese telecom operator, used D-Wave’s technology in a production application that reduced signal peaks by 65.3%.

D-Wave also announced a strategic partnership with LG CNS, the IT services arm of South Korea’s LG Group, around October 28. On the manufacturing side, it extended its collaboration with SkyWater for multiple years.

What this means for investors and the quantum sector

For QBTS shareholders, the next 12 months become the real test. If roughly 59% of the $38.3 million RPO converts as the company expects, revenue would need to accelerate well beyond the current 21% growth rate.

The CHIPS Act funding adds a different dimension. Federal support of up to $100 million signals that Washington sees quantum hardware as strategically important.

The LG CNS partnership and the Italian system delivery also point to geographic reach. D-Wave is building a customer base across Asia and Europe, not only in the US.

What to watch next: the pace of RPO conversion, how much of the CHIPS Act funding is ultimately deployed, and whether more customers follow NTT DOCOMO from pilot into production.