Quantum computing company D-Wave Quantum expands cooperation with AT&T, stock price rises more than 18%
Quantum computing concept stock D-Wave Quantum announced on Monday that it has signed an expanded agreement with telecommunications giant AT&T to use its quantum annealing computing technology to solve complex optimization challenges in network operations. Boosted by this news, D-Wave Quantum rose 18.5% late on Monday. The stock had fallen for five consecutive weeks, with a cumulative decline of more than 35% since the beginning of the year. Under the agreement, AT&T plans to integrate D-Wave’s quantum annealing technology into its agent AI solutions. In early tests, D-Wave technology significantly shortened the processing time of a network optimization task from about one hour to less than 15 seconds, increasing the processing speed by about 240 times. AT&T said its agent tools have helped reduce customer service outages by approximately 12 million hours in 2025. In the future, AT&T also plans to apply D-Wave technology to a wider range of network scenarios, including fault detection and response, technician route planning, network construction planning, and traffic management. Additionally, AT&T is evaluating D-Wave’s upcoming gate model system for potential applications in quantum security and quantum communications. D-Wave CEO Alan Balazs said this collaboration demonstrates that leading companies are turning to quantum computing to solve real business problems. AT&T recognized the limitations of classical computing in complex optimization tasks and quickly explored the value of quantum technology. The good news about D-Wave also led to the rise of other quantum computing-related stocks. Stocks such as IonQ, Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing all recorded varying gains on Monday. Benchmark covered D-Wave for the first time that day, giving it a "buy" rating and a target price of $30.