D-Wave Announces Agreements with NEC to Drive Hybrid Services Combining Quantum & Classical Computers

(GlobeNewsWire) D-Wave Systems Inc., has announced the company has signed agreements with NEC Corporation, a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, to drive development of hybrid services that combine the best features of quantum and classical computers, and make it easy to incorporate quantum capabilities into integrated workflows. D-Wave and NEC plan to market and sell D-Wave’s Leap™ quantum cloud service, which includes hybrid tools and services, as well as new hybrid capabilities to be jointly developed. NEC has committed to invest $10 million in D-Wave. The collaboration will take effect upon the closing of NEC’s investment, which is subject to certain conditions.

The collaboration will focus on three key areas:

• Hybrid Services: NEC and D-Wave will jointly develop hybrid services that combine the power of NEC’s supercomputers and other classical systems with D-Wave’s quantum technology. The two companies will provide their customers with price and performance characteristics superior to those provided by solely classical systems. This work also complements D-Wave’s existing tools and software for hybrid development, including D-Wave Hybrid™, a simple open-source workflow platform for building and running quantum-classical hybrid applications available through Leap.
• Application Development: NEC and D-Wave will work with customers to develop applications that harness the power of their collaborative hybrid systems and solve practical business and scientific problems across a variety of industries. This builds upon the 200+ early applications customers have developed using D-Wave’s systems in fields ranging from automotive and manufacturing to machine learning and materials science.
• Sales & Marketing: NEC will be an authorized reseller of D-Wave’s Leap cloud service. Offerings include access to D-Wave’s ongoing hardware and software innovations, including the lower noise processor, Ocean SDK™, and the next-generation Advantage™ system when it is available in mid-2020. The parties plan to jointly develop, market, and sell new hybrid capabilities.

“Japan is the birthplace of quantum annealing and has remained a global leader in quantum application development. Across government, business, and academia, Japanese D-Wave customers have pushed real-world application development forward by tapping into quantum to start solving business-critical problems today,” said D-Wave’s chief product officer and EVP of R&D, Alan Baratz. “Our collaboration with global pioneer NEC is a major milestone in the pursuit of fully commercial quantum applications.”