NEW YORK, Jan 3, 2026, 13:50 ET — Market closed
D-Wave Quantum Inc shares (QBTS) closed up 7.6% at $28.13 on Friday, ending the week’s first session with a sharp move in a corner of the market known for fast swings. Trading was heavy, with about 48.4 million shares changing hands.
The jump matters now because quantum-computing pure plays have become momentum-driven trades, with investors struggling to anchor valuations as the companies push toward broader commercial adoption. Reuters has previously described the group as highly volatile, reflecting uncertainty over how quickly the technology turns into durable revenue.
For D-Wave, a near-term calendar of events is also coming into focus, with CES 2026 days away and the company’s own user conference later in the month. D-Wave said it will sponsor the CES Foundry event in Las Vegas on Jan. 7–8.
Friday’s strength was not isolated. IonQ rose 4.3%, Rigetti Computing gained 6.6%, and Quantum Computing Inc advanced 7.3% in the same session.
In a note published on Nasdaq.com on Friday, Zacks Investment Research pointed to a string of product-development milestones that have kept D-Wave on investors’ screens, including the commercial launch of its Advantage2 system and progress on next-generation hardware. The note also cited management’s updates on an “Advantage3” prototype and work on gate-model chips. Nasdaq
D-Wave’s core offering is quantum annealing, a type of quantum computing designed to search for the best solution among many possibilities — a fit for optimization problems such as scheduling and routing. The company is also working on gate-model systems, which use sequences of quantum logic operations aimed at broader computing tasks.
At CES Foundry, D-Wave said it plans to showcase its annealing technology and “hybrid quantum-classical solvers,” software that pairs quantum hardware with conventional computers so larger problems can be tackled in practical workflows. “Showcasing quantum computing at CES… signals that the technology is quickly moving into the mainstream,” said Murray Thom, D-Wave’s vice president of quantum technology evangelism. D-Wave Quantum
D-Wave’s next scheduled company event after CES is Qubits 2026, its user conference, set for Jan. 27–28 in Boca Raton, Florida, according to an SEC filing. The filing said D-Wave plans to discuss its technology roadmap for both annealing and gate-model initiatives.
Investors will be looking for signs that the visibility from those events translates into commercial traction — such as customer deployments, recurring cloud usage and clearer revenue timing — rather than one-off moves tied to newsflow.
The backdrop remains high-risk. In early-stage technology themes, sentiment can move faster than fundamentals, and quantum-computing stocks have shown they can reverse sharply when momentum fades.
Before the next session on Monday, traders will watch whether QBTS holds recent gains after Friday’s wide range, when the stock traded between $25.44 and $28.42. The $30 level is likely to act as a near-term marker, while the prior close near $26.15 and Friday’s low are nearby reference points on pullbacks.
A confirmed date for D-Wave’s next earnings release was not listed on Nasdaq’s earnings page, leaving the January event calendar as the most visible catalyst in the near term.
