{"id":65466,"date":"2026-07-27T07:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/att-expands-quantum-computing-partnership-with-d-wave-to-optimize-network-operations\/65466\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T07:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:38:14","slug":"att-expands-quantum-computing-partnership-with-d-wave-to-optimize-network-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/att-expands-quantum-computing-partnership-with-d-wave-to-optimize-network-operations\/65466\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&#038;T Expands Quantum Computing Partnership with D-Wave to Optimize Network Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AT&amp;T (<a href=\"\/stock\/T\">T<\/a>)<\/strong> has signed a new agreement to expand its use of <strong>D-Wave Quantum Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/QBTS\">QBTS<\/a>)<\/strong> technology, aiming to solve complex optimization challenges across its massive network infrastructure.<\/li>\n<li>Early testing of <strong>D-Wave&#39;s<\/strong> quantum annealing technology reduced processing time for a specific network optimization workload from <strong>one hour to less than 15 seconds<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>D-Wave (<a href=\"\/stock\/QBTS\">QBTS<\/a>)<\/strong> shares surged as much as <strong>13%<\/strong> in <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/movers\/premarket\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Premarket Movers\">premarket<\/a> trading following the announcement, reflecting investor optimism over the commercial scaling of quantum solutions.<\/li>\n<li>The partnership focuses on integrating quantum capabilities into <strong>AT&amp;T&#39;s<\/strong> &quot;agentic AI&quot; tools, which already saved customers <strong>12 million hours<\/strong> of downtime in 2025 through improved outage management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Quantum Speed for Network Efficiency<\/h2>\n<p>Telecommunications giant <strong>AT&amp;T (<a href=\"\/stock\/T\">T<\/a>)<\/strong> is deepening its commitment to quantum technology to modernize its network operations. The company announced on <strong>July 27, 2026<\/strong>, that it will expand its collaboration with <strong>D-Wave Quantum Inc. (<a href=\"\/stock\/QBTS\">QBTS<\/a>)<\/strong> to address high-intensity compute challenges. This move follows successful pilot programs where <strong>D-Wave&#39;s<\/strong> quantum annealing systems demonstrated the ability to complete complex tasks in a fraction of the time required by classical computers.<\/p>\n<p>The expanded agreement will see <strong>AT&amp;T<\/strong> apply quantum optimization to a broader range of critical functions. These include <strong>outage detection and response<\/strong>, <strong>technician routing<\/strong>, <strong>network build planning<\/strong>, and <strong>real-time traffic management<\/strong>. By leveraging quantum speed, <strong>AT&amp;T<\/strong> aims to improve the accuracy of its planning as it scales its converged fiber and <strong>5G<\/strong> networks to meet rising AI-driven demand.<\/p>\n<h2>Integration with Agentic AI<\/h2>\n<p>A primary focus of the new deal is the integration of <strong>D-Wave&#39;s<\/strong> technology into <strong>AT&amp;T&#39;s<\/strong> existing <strong>agentic AI<\/strong> solutions. These AI agents are currently used to monitor and manage network health, and they were credited with reducing customer downtime by <strong>12 million hours<\/strong> during the <strong>2025<\/strong> calendar year. <strong>AT&amp;T<\/strong> believes that layering quantum annealing into these tools will further enhance the benefits and speed of its automated network agents.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond current optimization tasks, <strong>AT&amp;T<\/strong> is also looking toward the future of quantum security. The company is evaluating <strong>D-Wave&#39;s<\/strong> forthcoming <strong>gate-model systems<\/strong>, which are designed for more general-purpose quantum computing. These systems could eventually play a role in <strong>quantum-secure communications<\/strong>, protecting sensitive data against future quantum-based threats.<\/p>\n<h2>Market Reaction and Strategic Impact<\/h2>\n<p>The announcement provided a significant boost to <strong>D-Wave Quantum (<a href=\"\/stock\/QBTS\">QBTS<\/a>)<\/strong>, with the stock jumping <strong>11% to 13%<\/strong> in early Monday trading. While the specific financial terms and duration of the contract were not disclosed, analysts view the deal as a major validation of <strong>D-Wave&#39;s<\/strong> commercial &quot;Quantum Computing as a Service&quot; (QCaaS) model.<\/p>\n<p>For <strong>AT&amp;T<\/strong>, the partnership is a key component of a broader innovation strategy that combines <strong>AI<\/strong>, <strong>automation<\/strong>, and <strong>advanced analytics<\/strong>. <em>Industry experts suggest that as telecommunications networks become increasingly complex, the ability to solve optimization problems in seconds rather than hours will become a critical competitive advantage.<\/em> <strong>D-Wave<\/strong> CEO <strong>Alan Baratz<\/strong> noted that the deal serves as a &quot;powerful example&quot; of how leading enterprises are now moving beyond research and into the practical application of quantum systems for real-world business problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways AT&amp;T (T) has signed a new agreement to expand its use of D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS) technology, aiming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[3792,3968,4586,6098,12536,20875],"class_list":["post-65466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-t","tag-qbts","tag-d-wave-quantum","tag-quantum-computing","tag-agentic-ai","tag-network-optimization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}