D-Wave Systems has announced a partnership with Japanese industrial giant NEC today to build what they call “hybrid apps and services” that work on a combination of NEC high-performance computers and D-Wave’s quantum systems.
D-Wave and NEC plan to market and sell D-Wave’s Leap™ quantum cloud service, which includes hybrid tools and services, as well as new hybrid capabilities to be jointly developed.
As part of the agreement, NEC has committed to invest $10 million in D-Wave. The collaboration will take effect upon the closing of NEC’s investment.
“Japan is the birthplace of quantum annealing and has remained a global leader in quantum application development. Across government, business, and academia, Japanese D-Wave customers have pushed real-world application development forward by tapping into quantum to start solving business-critical problems today,” said D-Wave’s chief product officer and EVP of R&D, Alan Baratz.
“Our collaboration with global pioneer NEC is a major milestone in the pursuit of fully commercial quantum applications.”
The collaboration with NEC builds upon D-Wave’s existing traction in the high-impact Japanese market. Japanese customers include such market leaders as DENSO, Toyota Tsusho, Recruit Communications, Groovenauts, Sigma-i, Tohoku University, and more. To date, they have developed early applications in everything from manufacturing optimization to digital ad placement.
NEC has a long-time reputation of bringing several technological “firsts” to the global market over the past century, making it an expert in pioneering new technologies with customer value at the fore. The collaboration with D-Wave gives NEC the unique ability to deliver practical quantum computing to their market through joint sales, marketing, and development.
