QBTS Rides AI & Blockchain Wave: Will the Rally Last After Q2 Release?

D-Wave Quantum’s QBTS increasing emphasis on artificial intelligence and blockchain represents a strategic expansion of its quantum system sales pipeline. The company in the first quarter of 2025 introduced a quantum-powered blockchain architecture designed for scalable, energy-efficient applications, a compelling differentiator in an industry grappling with the environmental impact of traditional blockchain models.

Additionally, the launch of a PyTorch-integrated quantum AI toolkit marked a significant step toward making quantum computing more accessible for machine learning developers and data scientists, particularly those working on hybrid classical-quantum workflows.

D-Wave’s management in this regard noted that, while still early-stage, these developments are closely aligned with system sales opportunities rather than the company’s Quantum Computing-as-a-Service (QCAAS) segment. According to D-Wave, such innovations are geared toward customers seeking to deploy their own on-premises systems for high-security, high-throughput use cases, including blockchain and advanced AI modeling. The company suggested that this integration of quantum capabilities into real-world development ecosystems could open the door for commercial traction across both enterprise and government verticals.

D-Wave’s current focus on partner discussions and proof-of-concept (POC) pilots around its blockchain framework and PyTorch-integrated AI toolkit could pave the way for future system sales or licensing deals. As second-quarter 2025 earnings approach, attention will be on whether these early-stage efforts have translated into commercial traction. (Read more: QBTS Stock Before Q2 Earnings: Should You Buy Now or Wait?)

Shares of QBTS have jumped nearly 166% in the past three months.

Three-Month Price Performance

Diverging Paths Among Quantum Computing Rivals

IonQ IONQ: It is advancing in quantum AI through its gate-based architecture, focusing on hybrid AI model training and partnerships with cloud providers. While strong in developer tooling and quantum machine learning, IonQ is yet to introduce a blockchain framework like QBTS, leaving a potential gap in its emerging markets strategy.

Rigetti Computing RGTI: The company remains hardware-focused, prioritizing qubit fidelity and government contracts via its QCS platform. Though exploring AI, it lacks blockchain-specific initiatives and domain toolkits like D-Wave’s PyTorch integration, making its approach more tech-centric and less diversified across emerging commercial applications.

Average Target Price for QBTS Suggests Limited Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by eight analysts, D-Wave Quantum’s average price target represents a decline of 8.6% from the last closing price of $17.25.

D-Wave Quantum currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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