D-Wave’s sales rose 21%. Can $38 million of contracted work become revenue?

Quantum-computing company D-Wave reported $4.5 million in third-quarter revenue on November 10, up 21% from a year earlier. The larger number in its new results is $38.3 million of contracted work whose revenue has yet to be recognized. How that work turns into delivered services and recorded sales will be a more useful test than treating it as money already earned.^[1]

For readers following quantum-computing companies, the report offers three different views of demand: sales recorded in a quarter, new orders received during it, and obligations left to fulfill. Those figures can move in different directions without contradicting one another.

Sales, orders and work still to do

D-Wave’s third-quarter bookings were $1.9 million, down 19% year over year. Its bookings across the first nine months were $37.4 million, up 611%. The company says a single quarter can vary sharply with the timing of larger transactions. Its year-to-date figure also includes $2.3 million of Quantum Circuits orders closed just before D-Wave acquired that business in January.^[1]

Bookings are the company’s measure of customer orders expected to generate future revenue. The $38.3 million figure is a separate accounting category: remaining performance obligations, or RPO. D-Wave defines this as the transaction price of non-cancellable orders for work not yet performed, including deferred revenue and future amounts to be invoiced. It excludes unexercised renewals.^[1]

D-Wave expects approximately 59% of that September 30 balance to become revenue within the following 12 months, and 71% within 24 months. Applying those rounded percentages to $38.3 million gives about $22.6 million in the first year, another $4.6 million in the second, and $11.1 million beyond two years. The second-year amount is the difference between the cumulative percentages, not an additional 71%.^[1]

That calculation describes management’s expected timing for an existing balance. It is not a forecast of total company revenue: future contracts could add sales, while delivery and recognition timing can change. Nor is RPO interchangeable with cash in the bank.

A better quarter, a weaker nine months

The quarter’s revenue increase came from professional services and quantum computing sold through cloud access, which rose by approximately $1.5 million and $0.8 million respectively from a year earlier. System-sales revenue fell by approximately $1.5 million. These are the company’s rounded changes, rather than three separate totals.^[1]

The longer comparison is less flattering. The unaudited tables report $10.447 million of revenue for the first nine months of 2026, against $21.835 million a year earlier: a decline of about 52.2%. Third-quarter growth therefore does not mean year-to-date sales have recovered. Both comparisons matter in a business where individual system transactions can make periods uneven.^[1]

The mix also affected profitability. Gross margin, the share of revenue left after direct costs, was 52.9%, compared with 71.4% a year earlier, a fall of 18.5 percentage points. D-Wave attributed the decline principally to a greater share of lower-margin professional services and higher non-cash stock compensation. Its operating loss widened to $53.482 million from $27.736 million.^[1]

Headline net loss moved the other way, narrowing to $48.197 million from $139.986 million. Much of that improvement reflects the disappearance of a $121.859 million non-cash charge for revaluing warrant liabilities in the prior-year quarter. It does not establish that the operating business became profitable.^[1]

D-Wave’s adjusted EBITDA loss, a company-defined measure that excludes specified accounting and other items, widened to $37.660 million from $20.615 million. That measure is not cash flow and should not replace results under standard U.S. accounting rules (GAAP).^[1]

The next evidence to watch

At September 30, cash and marketable investment securities totaled approximately $503.4 million. Separately, D-Wave described access to up to $100 million of CHIPS and Science Act funding, paid in installments subject to milestones and conditions. Access to that funding should not be added to cash as though every installment had arrived.^[1]

The practical follow-up is how much of the contracted work becomes revenue on D-Wave’s expected recognition timetable, and what margin those sales carry. New orders matter too, but a rising order total and a profitable operation are different milestones. The next filings can show progress on each without requiring investors to mistake one for the other.