D-Wave Quantum is strengthening its European footprint with a €10 million agreement to deploy its most advanced quantum annealing system, the Advantage2, in Italy. The deal, signed with Swiss Quantum Technology SA (SQT), marks a pivotal moment for Europe’s quantum computing ambitions, linking commercial innovation with the continent’s strategic goal of achieving technological sovereignty in next-generation computing.
Announced at the ComoLake 2025 Digital Innovation Forum, the collaboration will see D-Wave’s Advantage2 system installed under Italy’s Q-Alliance program, a national initiative aimed at fostering a competitive European quantum ecosystem. Once operational, the system will be accessible to research institutions, startups, and enterprises via D-Wave’s Leap real-time quantum cloud platform, offering local users direct access to high-performance quantum resources without needing to rely on infrastructure outside Europe.
The Advantage2 represents D-Wave’s latest generation of quantum annealing hardware. Featuring more than 4,400 qubits, it is engineered to solve complex optimization and artificial intelligence workloads that challenge classical computing methods. Its architecture is designed not only for speed and precision but also for energy efficiency – a key factor as organizations seek to balance high-performance computing demands with sustainability commitments.
For D-Wave, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, this installation reflects a broader expansion strategy across Europe, where public and private investments in quantum research have accelerated. “The partnership with SQT is a significant step in our ongoing mission to expand access to our fleet of annealing quantum computers globally,” said Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave Quantum. “As Europe advances its leadership in quantum innovation, we see our production-grade annealing technology as a cornerstone for building and scaling practical quantum applications that deliver measurable business and scientific impact.”
The Italian deployment is also a strategic move for Swiss Quantum Technology SA, which views the collaboration as both a sustainability initiative and a technological leap. “Traditional computing is reaching its limits – not only in terms of performance but also energy efficiency,” said Enrico De Mitri, CEO of SQT. “Deploying D-Wave’s Advantage2 system underscores our commitment to meeting the growing demand for advanced computing capabilities while minimizing environmental impact. We believe D-Wave’s technology can deliver powerful solutions with substantially lower energy consumption compared to classical systems.”
Once installed, the system will play a central role in supporting Italy’s Q-Alliance, a consortium designed to position the country as a hub for European quantum collaboration, research, and commercialization. By hosting one of D-Wave’s production-grade quantum systems, Italy aims to attract new partnerships, foster academic-industry cooperation, and accelerate the development of quantum-enabled applications across industries such as logistics, materials science, finance, and energy optimization.
Scalable Quantum Computing
D-Wave remains one of the few global companies simultaneously developing both annealing and gate-model quantum systems – two distinct technological paths toward scalable quantum computing. Its annealing systems are particularly suited for optimization problems, such as route planning, resource allocation, and machine learning model training, where variables interact in complex and nonlinear ways.
To date, D-Wave reports that its systems have processed more than 200 million problems from over 100 commercial and research organizations worldwide. These include use cases in transportation scheduling, drug discovery, and supply chain optimization – practical applications that underscore quantum computing’s growing role beyond theoretical research.
The collaboration between D-Wave and SQT demonstrates how cross-border partnerships are becoming essential to Europe’s quantum agenda. As the continent intensifies investments in digital transformation and high-performance computing, localized access to advanced quantum systems could prove decisive in maintaining competitiveness against North American and Asian players.
By combining cutting-edge hardware, sustainable design, and regional collaboration, the Advantage2 deployment in Italy represents not only a milestone for D-Wave’s European expansion but also a tangible step toward bringing industrial-scale quantum computing out of the lab and into real-world production environments.
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