January 8, 2026 D-Wave says it has solved a major technical bottleneck that has long limited the scalability of gate-model quantum computers. The company announced Tuesday that it has demonstrated a new way to control large numbers of quantum bits on a single chip, a step it claims brings commercially scalable quantum computers closer to reality.
The breakthrough, which D-Wave describes as an industry first, centers on “scalable, on-chip cryogenic control for gate-model qubits,” a technical advance aimed at solving a long-standing problem in quantum system design: how to add more qubits without making machines impossibly complex.
Quantum computers promise dramatic speedups for certain calculations, but scaling them has proven difficult. Each additional qubit typically requires its own control hardware, increasing wiring, space, and system instability. D-Wave says its new approach reduces that overhead, allowing many qubits to be controlled with far fewer connections.
“You can think of it as a chip in your phone or laptop,” said Trevor Lanting, D-Wave’s chief development officer. “The CPU has transistors in it, and there are billions in a modern CPU or logic chip, but only a small number of connections that go from the motherboard and get the information on and off the chip. You don’t have individual wires going to each transistor; you need to multiplex that control.”
D-Wave says it has now applied a similar concept to quantum hardware, enabling what it calls scalable control. In practical terms, the company argues this makes it possible to increase quantum computing power without a proportional increase in physical complexity.
Gate-model quantum computers, which differ from D-Wave’s annealing systems, are widely viewed as essential for broader, programmable quantum applications. By addressing the control bottleneck at the chip level, D-Wave is positioning itself to compete more directly in that space.
The announcement marks the latest in a string of high-profile milestones for the Vancouver-based company. In March last year, D-Wave said it had achieved quantum supremacy by simulating magnetic materials using its Advantage2 annealing quantum computer. In October, it signed a $12 million deal to deploy its systems in Europe.
Those developments have fueled a dramatic rise in investor interest. Over the past year, D-Wave’s stock has climbed more than 200%. Shares that traded for under $1 two years ago were approaching $31 as of early January. According to Lanting, the latest advance reflects years of sustained investment rather than a sudden leap.
