D-Wave Named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Quantum Computing

The IDC MarketScape evaluated quantum computing companies based on their current capabilities and future strategies with a vendor assessment model designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s market position. 

Of the 11 quantum computing vendors IDC evaluated, only two companies were positioned to the Leaders Category, and D-Wave is proud to be one of them.

Source: IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Quantum Computing 2026 Vendor Assessment, #US54125526, June 2026

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the circles. Vendor year-over-year growth rate relative to the given market is indicated by a plus, neutral or minus next to the vendor name. © 2026 IDC

According to the IDC MarketScape, D-Wave's key strengths include a broad production deployment footprint, mature enterprise accessibility and hybrid adoption framework, and extending quantum annealing beyond optimization into scientific simulation. 

As the IDC MarketScape noted, “Competition is increasingly shifting away from raw qubit counts and toward broader platform maturity. Leading vendors are differentiating through software ecosystems, hybrid quantum integration, structured customer engagement programs, deployment flexibility, and the ability to integrate quantum systems into existing high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and enterprise computing environments. At the same time, the market continues to diversify across multiple qubit modalities and architectural approaches, as vendors pursue different pathways toward scalable error-corrected quantum computing.”  

In this context, we believe that D-Wave's recognition reflects three important areas of focus:

Proof in Production, Not Just Promises 

In our opinion, being a leader in quantum computing in 2026 means delivering real value, on real problems, for real customers today.  
 
D-Wave's annealing quantum computers have processed more than 200 million problems, the Advantage2™ system usage grew 314% year over year, and the Stride™ hybrid solver usage grew 114% in six months. This work is already beyond experimentation, with production deployments for manufacturing scheduling at Ford Otosan, network optimization at NTT DOCOMO, and workforce scheduling at Pattison Food Group. 

The IDC MarketScape cited this broad production deployment footprint in describing D-Wave's strengths: “D-Wave’s customer activity extends beyond research experimentation into operational manufacturing, telecommunications, retail, logistics, defense, and research computing workflows.” 

Breadth Across Architectures and Use Cases 

As Heather West, PhD, senior research manager and global quantum computing research lead at IDC, stated, “the Company’s dual-platform strategy, combining its established quantum annealing technology for optimization with the development of a gate-based platform, broadens its long-term opportunity to address a wider range of enterprise workloads as the market evolves."  

The IDC MarketScape also highlighted the breadth of D-Wave's systems and offerings noting, “D-Wave’s systems and offerings strategy is designed around operationalizing quantum computing within existing enterprise environments rather than positioning quantum as a standalone research platform. Unlike many quantum vendors whose customer engagements remain concentrated in exploratory pilots or algorithm research, D-Wave has focused heavily on production-oriented optimization deployments integrated into manufacturing, telecommunications, logistics, retail, defense, and research computing workflows. The company’s broader platform strategy, spanning quantum annealing hardware, hybrid solvers, cloud delivery, developer tooling, onboarding programs, and training, is intended to reduce the infrastructure, application development, and skills barriers that have historically limited enterprise quantum adoption. This focus allows D-Wave customers to leverage quantum annealing now to gain commercial and business value.”  
 
At the same time, D-Wave is leveraging decades of expertise in superconducting control systems, cryogenics and fabrication, along with our differentiated dual-rail qubit architecture, to accelerate the path to fault-tolerant gate-model systems.  

According to the IDC MarketScape, "key roadmap milestones for D-Wave’s gate-model program include a 2030 completion of a 10-logical-qubit system that can support the first fault-tolerant algorithms and a 2032 completion of a 100-logical-qubit system that can support initial quantum chemistry and quantum AI applications.” 

The IDC MarketScape also highlighted that “The Company [D-Wave] notes that the dual-rail qubit design enables native error detection at the physical hardware level and delivers high-performance operations with error detection and 99.9%+ gate fidelities.” 

Learn more about D-Wave's dual-rail qubits and gate-model roadmap here.

Low Barriers to Enterprise Quantum Adoption 

Our view is that technology needs to be easy to use for it to deliver value to customers, and our offerings reflect that vision. The IDC MarketScape noted that “The Leap™ cloud platform, Ocean™ SDK, the Stride hybrid solver, the D-Wave Launch™ onboarding program, and a structured training catalog collectively reduce the infrastructure and expertise barriers that most often slow enterprise quantum adoption.” 

The Leap platform runs in more than 40 countries with 99.9% availability and SOC 2 Type 2 certification. The Ocean SDK lets developers build hybrid applications in familiar Python workflows. The Stride hybrid solver handles optimization problems with up to 2 million variables — without requiring dedicated quantum programming expertise.

The Bottom Line 

So, what does it mean to be a leader in quantum computing? For D-Wave, this recognition reinforces the importance of delivering value today while continuing to build the technologies that will define the future of quantum computing.  

As Heather West described our leadership: "D-Wave's position as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape reflects its focus on making quantum computing more accessible to enterprise users through a mature software platform that helps lower barriers to adoption. By simplifying the user experience and enabling organizations to integrate quantum optimization into existing workflows, D-Wave is helping expand the enterprise customer base for quantum computing today." 

Our CEO, Dr. Alan Baratz, put it more directly: "The market is separating those who can deliver from those still making promises, and we believe this is where D-Wave's differentiation is unmistakable." 

Read the IDC MarketScape excerpt.