D-Wave Systems Inc. has signed agreements with NEC Corp. to drive development of hybrid services that combine the best features of quantum and classical computers, and make it easy to incorporate quantum capabilities into integrated workflows.

The two companies 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.

NEC has committed to invest $10 million in D-Wave. The collaboration will take effect upon the closing of NEC’s investment, which is subject to certain conditions.

The collaboration will focus on hybrid services, application development, sales and marketing.

NEC and D-Wave will jointly develop hybrid services that combine the power of NEC’s supercomputers and other classical systems with D-Wave’s quantum technology. This work also complements D-Wave’s existing tools and software for hybrid development, including D-Wave Hybrid, an open-source workflow platform for building and running quantum-classical hybrid applications available through Leap.

NEC and D-Wave will work with their customers to develop applications that harness the power of their collaborative hybrid systems and solve practical business and scientific problems across a variety of industries. This builds upon the 200+ early applications D-Wave's customers have developed using the company's systems in fields ranging from automotive and manufacturing to machine learning and materials science.

NEC will be an authorized reseller of D-Wave’s Leap cloud service. Offerings include access to D-Wave’s hardware and software innovations, including the lower noise processor, Ocean SDK, and the next-generation Advantage system when it is available in mid-2020. The parties plan to jointly develop, market, and sell new hybrid capabilities.

D-Wave has already customers in the Japanese market -- DENSO, Toyota Tsusho, Recruit Communications, Groovenauts, Sigma-i, Tohoku University, and more.