D-Wave was spun out of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1999 to commercialize superconductor-based, quantum computer processors.
Building a commercial-scale quantum computer processor was — and is — a daunting task. D-Wave’s strategy was to enter into collaborative partnerships with world-renowned researchers having access to significant capital infrastructure, while retaining all intellectual property developed. Each institution in this network was responsible for delivering some critical part of a future commercial processor. Partners included theoretical and applied physicists, chemists, electrical engineers, cryogenics experts, mathematicians, and computer scientists. These partnerships were managed and led by D-Wave. All results were systematically reviewed, catalogued, and placed in the context of state-of-the-art developments, both internal and external to the company's effort.
Objective: Design a quantum computer processor architecture for commercial use. The only designs considered were those that could be built with limited resources in the short term, and for which a significant market opportunity could be clearly articulated. In November 2004, a design was proposed that met these objectives.
Today, D-Wave is focused exclusively on developing and commercializing supercomputing systems built around this processor.
