What was the first quantum computer?
Lockheed Martin buys the D-Wave One, billed as the first commercial quantum computer
D-Wave, meanwhile, had kept building. In May 2011 it announced the first sale of what it called the world's first commercially available quantum computer: a D-Wave One, with 128 qubits, bought by the defense contractor Lockheed Martin for a reported $10 million.
Shortly before, D-Wave had published a paper in Nature presenting evidence that its chips relied on quantum effects.
Many independent researchers remained skeptical. The paper did not show that the machine solved any problem faster than a conventional computer, and it remained unclear how much of its behavior was quantum at all.
The sale, however, was a fact. For the first time a machine marketed as a quantum computer had been bought by a customer. It was installed at the University of Southern California, where Lockheed Martin and USC ran it together. What had changed hands was a special-purpose device of disputed nature; whether it deserved the name depended on what the term was taken to mean.
Eleven years ago, together with Lockheed Martin, we installed our first quantum system at USC.D-Wave