Rigetti Computing Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Technical validation: Rigetti reported very high gate performance—prototype two‑qubit fidelity up to 99.9% at a 28‑ns gate and median two‑qubit fidelities of 99.7% (9Q), 99.6% (36Q) and 99% (108Q)—and demonstrated chiplet tiling alongside monolithic deployments as its preferred path to scale.
• 108‑qubit deployment update: General availability of the Cepheus‑1‑108Q was delayed to address tunable coupler stability, but management reaffirmed a target to deploy “around the end of March” with ~99.5% median two‑qubit fidelity and 99.9% one‑qubit fidelity after a chip redesign.
• Commercial and financial position: Rigetti is building an on‑premises order pipeline—including a $8.4 million C‑DAC 108‑qubit order and ~$5.7 million in Novera sales—with Q4 revenue of $1.9M and higher opex, while ending 2025 with about $590 million in cash and investments to fund its roadmap.

Rigetti Computing NASDAQ: RGTI executives used the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to outline recent technical milestones in superconducting, gate-based quantum computing, provide an update on system deployment timelines, and discuss a growing pipeline of on-premises hardware orders. Management also reviewed quarterly financial results, emphasizing that revenue will remain lumpy due to delivery timing and government contract activity while the market remains largely research-driven.

Technical progress: fidelity, speed, and chiplet scaling

CEO Dr. Subodh Kulkarni said 2025 was “a year of technical validation and disciplined execution,” with progress across “fidelity, scale, and architecture.” He framed Rigetti’s strategy around superconducting gate-based systems, citing fast gate speeds (measured in tens of nanoseconds) and what the company views as a practical long-term path to scaling via semiconductor-style fabrication.

Kulkarni highlighted a prototype result using what he described as Rigetti’s proprietary adiabatic CZ scheme, where the company achieved 2-qubit gate fidelity “as high as 99.9%” at a 28-nanosecond gate speed, while maintaining 99.9% 1-qubit gate fidelity. He also cited median 2-qubit gate fidelities across several systems: 99.7% on a 9-qubit system, 99.6% on a 36-qubit system, and 99% on the 108-qubit system dubbed Cepheus-1-108Q.

Rigetti also said it deployed multiple systems to the cloud, including an 84-qubit monolithic chip system and a 36-qubit chiplet-based system, and “demonstrated that chiplet tiling works in practice.” Management argued chiplets are necessary because scaling to thousands of qubits on a single die “is not realistic.”

108-qubit deployment delayed for stability; end-of-March target reaffirmed

On the 108-qubit platform, Kulkarni said the company identified tunable coupler interactions that emerged at higher scale and chose to delay general availability to address the issue. In response to analyst questions, he reiterated Rigetti expects to deploy the 108-qubit system “around the end of March” with approximately 99.5% median 2-qubit gate fidelity and 99.9% 1-qubit gate fidelity.

He added that the company redesigned the chip to address coupling issues and is collecting and validating data across the full 108-qubit grid. Kulkarni also said Rigetti has started reporting both one- and two-qubit gate fidelity to avoid confusion, emphasizing that the company historically focuses on 2-qubit gate fidelity as the key entanglement metric.

Customer activity: on-premises orders and geographic expansion

Rigetti pointed to increased demand for on-premises systems from national governments and research institutions. Kulkarni referenced an $8.4 million order announced in January from India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for a 108-qubit on-premises system scheduled for deployment in the second half of 2026, which will be integrated into C-DAC’s supercomputing environment. He said the order builds on a memorandum of understanding to explore co-development of hybrid classical-quantum systems.

The company also previously announced purchase orders totaling about $5.7 million for two 9-qubit Novera on-premises systems. Kulkarni described these as upgradable systems intended as testbeds for quantum hardware research, error correction, and internal capability development.

In addition, Rigetti disclosed a purchase order for a Novera QPU from a Japanese research organization, scheduled for delivery in April 2026. Kulkarni said the customer did not grant permission to disclose its name, describing it as a “premier Japanese organization,” and noted it will be Rigetti’s first QPU located in Japan. CFO Jeffrey Bertelsen said the Japan Novera QPU is expected to ship in April with revenue recognized in the second quarter of 2026.

Partnership strategy: error correction, hybrid computing, and optical readout

Kulkarni described Rigetti’s “open modular architecture” as a differentiator, saying the company expects the ecosystem to be built via integration with best-in-class partners rather than any one company owning the full stack.

• Riverlane: Rigetti is working with Riverlane on real-time quantum error correction, which management called foundational to fault-tolerant quantum computing. Kulkarni said the companies have published papers and are aligning roadmaps, with Riverlane’s error correction viewed as a “key part” of Rigetti’s stack as systems scale.
• NVIDIA: Rigetti is collaborating with NVIDIA to support NVQLink, described as an open platform to integrate quantum systems with AI supercomputing. Kulkarni said Rigetti demonstrated a concept at NVIDIA GTC in October and argued superconducting gate speeds are important for practical hybrid environments.
• QphoX and the UK’s NQCC: Rigetti is collaborating on optical readout of superconducting qubits to reduce cryogenic heat load and wiring complexity, which management called early-stage but relevant to scaling.

Financial results: lower Q4 revenue, higher opex; cash position increased

Bertelsen reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $1.9 million, down from $2.3 million in the prior-year quarter, attributing variability to the timing of system deliveries and government contract activity. Gross margin was 35% versus 44% a year earlier, which he said was driven primarily by contract mix; some strategic government and national lab contracts carry lower margins but help with validation and ecosystem integration.

Total operating expenses were $23.2 million in Q4, up from $19.5 million a year ago, with spending concentrated in R&D. Stock-based compensation was $5.6 million compared with $3.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Operating loss was $22.6 million versus $18.5 million in Q4 2024. On a non-GAAP basis, net loss was $11.3 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with a non-GAAP net loss of $14.0 million, or $0.06 per share, a year earlier.

On revenue recognition for disclosed orders, Bertelsen said Rigetti expects “a little less than half” of the $5.7 million Novera revenue to be recognized in the first quarter of 2026, with the remainder in the second quarter. He noted the two Novera sales included lower-margin dilution refrigeration systems. For the $8.4 million C-DAC order, he said revenue is expected to be recognized in the second half of 2026 following testing and validation, and will be recognized “all at once” at a point in time once installed and meeting specifications. He added that the C-DAC order did not include ongoing maintenance or support, and Rigetti expects an additional purchase order for those services later in the year.

Rigetti ended 2025 with approximately $590 million in cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale investments, up from about $217 million at the end of 2024, and reported no debt. Both Kulkarni and Bertelsen said the balance sheet provides runway to execute the company’s roadmap, with an investment focus that remains primarily organic and M&A considered only if it meaningfully accelerates progress.

About Rigetti Computing NASDAQ: RGTI

Rigetti Computing is a pioneering quantum computing company that designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors alongside a complementary software stack. Founded in 2013 by CEO Chad Rigetti, the company has developed end-to-end quantum systems—from cryogenic hardware to control electronics—to advance the performance and scalability of quantum machines.

At the core of Rigetti's offering is its Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, which enables developers and enterprises to access quantum processing units (QPUs) and hybrid quantum-classical workflows via the cloud.

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