SkyWater and D-Wave Extend Quantum Manufacturing Collaboration Through Multi-Year Agreement

The agreement retains access to SkyWater’s Minnesota manufacturing team and includes protections for D-Wave’s intellectual property.

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Long-established partnership at the Minnesota fab to continue to support D-Wave's dual-platform superconducting quantum computing technology roadmap

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. & PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SkyWater Technology (“SkyWater”), the first quantum foundry in the U.S., and D-Wave Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: QBTS) ("D-Wave"), the only dual-platform quantum computing company providing both annealing and gate-model systems, software and services, today announced a multi-year agreement. This collaboration extends the long-established partnership between both companies, to continue specialized semiconductor process development and manufacturing in support of D-Wave's quantum technology roadmap.

D-Wave's work with the process integration and manufacturing team at SkyWater’s Minnesota fab spans more than a decade, creating a deep base of process knowledge around its superconducting quantum technologies. The two companies are working together and bring different strengths. D-Wave knows how to engineer superconducting processes and how to design quantum systems and processors. SkyWater is skilled at combining manufacturing steps into one process, engineering materials, making very thin layers of material, and manufacturing semiconductors.

That technical collaboration has supported multiple generations of D-Wave technology, including fabrication of Advantage2™ processors. A D-Wave Advantage2 system, fabricated at SkyWater, was used in research published in Science in 2025 demonstrating performance beyond classical approaches on a useful quantum simulation problem.

Under the new agreement, D-Wave will continue its relationship with SkyWater’s Minnesota fab team, providing manufacturing continuity and access to specialized process expertise developed around its technology requirements. The agreement builds on that established technical foundation, with terms that protect D-Wave’s intellectual property as the company advances its quantum systems.

Separately, the companies collaborated on a proof-of-technology project earlier this year, applying D-Wave’s annealing quantum computing technology to drive more efficient manufacturing processes at SkyWater’s fab. The optimized maintenance schedule reduced lot delays by up to 30%, improving factory throughput. A forthcoming proof-of-concept will focus on extending the model to include resource availability, technician constraints, and additional fab-specific operational constraints.

"Our team has developed deep process knowledge around D-Wave's highly specialized technology, demonstrating the value of close collaboration between quantum innovators and semiconductor manufacturers," said Thomas Sonderman, CEO of SkyWater Technology. "This agreement reinforces our commitment to providing D-Wave and customers across the quantum ecosystem with the unique process development and manufacturing capabilities they need to advance their technologies."

"Our work with the SkyWater team has played an important role in powering the past decade of D-Wave's superconducting quantum annealing technology," said Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave. "This agreement provides continuity with an experienced manufacturing team and specialized process capabilities we know well as we build the next generations of our quantum systems."

The agreement reflects growing demand for semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure capable of supporting the specialized materials, processes and integration requirements of quantum technologies. SkyWater recently launched SkyWater Quantum Solutions to help quantum companies transition technologies from development toward repeatable manufacturing. The company continues to serve existing customers such as D-Wave across the broader quantum ecosystem.

About D-Wave Quantum Inc.

D-Wave is a leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software and services. It is the world's first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and the first and only company to offer dual-platform quantum computing products and services, spanning both annealing and gate-model quantum computing technologies. D-Wave’s mission is to help customers realize the value of quantum today through enterprise-grade systems available on-premises and via its Leap™ quantum cloud service, which offers 99.9% availability and uptime. More than 100 organizations across commercial, government and research sectors trust D-Wave to address complex computational challenges using quantum computing. Learn more about realizing the value of quantum computing today and how we’re shaping the quantum-driven industrial and societal advancements of tomorrow: www.dwavequantum.com.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater Technology is the largest exclusively U.S.-based semiconductor foundry. SkyWater provides advanced development and manufacturing services that enable customers to bring differentiated technologies from concept to production. Through its U.S.-based facilities and specialized process development, wafer manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities, SkyWater serves customers across quantum computing, aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial, biomedical and other advanced technology markets. Learn more at www.skywatertechnology.com.

D-Wave Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “believe,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “trend,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” “forecast,” “projection,” “continue,” “ongoing,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and may not be indicative of future results. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among others, various factors beyond management’s control, including the risks discussed under the caption “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in Part I of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or any updates discussed under the caption “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in Part II of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release in making an investment decision, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.

SkyWater Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding demand for quantum-supporting semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure, SkyWater Quantum Solutions, SkyWater’s continuing service of its customers, and SkyWater’s future proof-of-concept. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “will,” “toward,” “grow,” “advance,” “commitment,” “continue,” and other similar expressions. These statements are only predictions based on our expectations and projections about future events as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may prove incorrect, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, those described under the heading “Risk Factors” in IonQ, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can management assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement we make. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as otherwise required by law, IonQ, Inc. and its management undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261013704307/en/

Media Contacts

SkyWater Technology
Tammy Swanson
Corporate Communications
tammy.swanson@skywatertechnology.com

D-Wave
Alex Daigle
media@dwavesys.com

Source: SkyWater Technology

Key Terms

superconducting quantum computing technical

Superconducting quantum computing uses tiny circuits made from materials that carry electricity with no resistance at extremely low temperatures to create and control quantum bits, special units that can represent many possibilities at once instead of just 0 or 1. For investors, it matters because if these machines reach practical scale they could solve certain problems far faster than today’s computers—think finding a needle in a haystack almost instantly—so progress, manufacturing scale, and commercialization could create big opportunities and risks across hardware, software, and services.

annealing quantum computing technical

A form of quantum computing that finds good solutions to hard optimization problems by slowly steering a system toward its lowest‑energy configuration, much like gently cooling molten metal so it settles into a stable shape. It matters to investors because, for certain tasks such as portfolio optimization, logistics routing or risk modeling, it promises faster or better results than conventional computers—potentially lowering costs or creating competitive advantage—though its benefits are problem‑specific and not universal.

gate-model quantum computing technical

Gate-model quantum computing is a way of building quantum computers where information is stored in qubits—tiny units that can represent blended states rather than just on/off—and computation is done by applying a sequence of precise operations called gates. Think of it as a programmable circuit where each gate nudges qubits like musical notes in a score; investors care because, if scaled and error-corrected, this approach promises dramatic speedups for certain tasks (encryption, optimization, simulation) that can reshape industries and create new markets.