D-Wave Quantum: Government Grants Fuel Gate-Model Ambitions as Insiders Cash Out

D-Wave lands $100M CHIPS Act award and $1.57M NSF grant for quantum computing, but top executives sell $28M in stock as shares fall 17% in a month.

D-Wave Quantum is navigating a period of stark contrasts. On one hand, Washington is funneling millions into the company’s next-generation quantum computing efforts. On the other, the company’s own top executives have just sold a combined $28 million worth of stock, sending a very different signal to the market.

The most recent tranche of public support comes from the National Science Foundation, which awarded D-Wave roughly $1.57 million for the ERASE project at Yale University. The grant, administered under the National Quantum Virtual Laboratory program, is earmarked for advancing fault-tolerant quantum systems — a field that pushes beyond D-Wave’s traditional annealing technology. Through its subsidiary Quantum Circuits LLC, acquired in January 2026, the company will provide researchers access to its superconducting dual-rail gate-model hardware and development tools. That effort aligns with plans to launch a gate-model simulator on the Leap cloud platform in September 2026, supporting up to 21 qubits and enabling error-aware programming.

That $1.57 million sits alongside a far larger proposed award: $100 million from the CHIPS and Science Act, announced on May 21, 2026. The funding is part of a broader $2 billion federal push to accelerate quantum computing in the United States, with the Department of Energy’s “Quantum Genesis” initiative aiming to demonstrate fault-tolerant systems by 2028. Globally, an estimated $45 billion to $50 billion in public money is now flowing into the sector.

Yet the company’s own leadership has been cashing out. Chief Executive Alan Baratz sold approximately $18 million worth of shares on June 8, 2026. Chief Financial Officer John Markovich offloaded more than $10 million in stock between late May and June. The combined insider sales come at a time when the stock has already been under pressure: it closed at €19.70 on Thursday, down 1.10% on the week and 17.02% over the past 30 days. The shares have lost 17.95% since the start of the year, though they still show a 39.12% gain year-on-year — a reminder of how far they ran before the latest retreat.

Technical indicators paint a cautious picture. The stock is trading 5.74% below its 200-day moving average of €20.90 and 3.39% below its 50-day average. The relative strength index stands at 46.6, suggesting neutral territory. Annualized volatility of 92.55% underscores the speculative nature of the quantum computing space. The 52-week high of €38.48, reached in October 2025, now lies about 49% above the current price, while the low of €11.12 from March 2026 represents a 77% upside — a wide range that reflects the sector’s whip-saw swings.

Competition is also intensifying. Finnish rival IQM Quantum Computers debuted on the Nasdaq on July 2, 2026, with a pre-IPO valuation of roughly $1.8 billion, giving institutional capital a fresh alternative. Meanwhile, the memory of Xanadu’s 62% collapse after new share registrations still hangs over the market.

On the operational side, D-Wave reported record bookings of $33.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, headlined by a $20 million deal with Florida Atlantic University. But investors continue to focus on cash burn and the long path to profitability. The market cap of roughly €7.77 billion leaves little room for error.

The next catalyst for D-Wave will likely be concrete contract awards from the $2 billion federal quantum pot. If those materialize by the end of the third quarter of 2026, the stock could make a run toward its 52-week high. If commercial milestones remain elusive and insider selling persists, the gap to that high — currently 48.27% — will only widen. Stabilization above the 50-day moving average of €20.46 would be an early sign that the bulls are regaining control. For now, the jury is very much out.