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Rigetti signed a formal agreement on September 4 with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a $100 million award under the CHIPS Act. The funding is split into three parts, with an initial $43.9 million available immediately. The remaining $56.1 million depends on the company hitting specific technical goals, including shrinking its electronics and building larger cooling systems for its quantum chips.
This is a meaningful win because it provides non-dilutive cash, meaning the company gets funding without having to sell more shares and lower the value of existing ones. While Rigetti already has a large cash pile, this federal backing helps cover the high costs of building 1,000-qubit systems and suggests the government sees its modular chip design as a viable path for national quantum infrastructure.
Source: 8-K filing
Rigetti reshuffled its leadership team this week to focus on scaling its business. David Rivas, who had been the Chief Technology Officer, moved into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer on August 18. Andrew Bestwick, previously a senior vice president, was promoted to take over as Chief Technology Officer.
This shift suggests the company is moving from pure research toward the more difficult task of manufacturing and delivering systems to customers. Rivas has been with the company since 2019 and will now oversee the broader operations, while Bestwick takes over the technical roadmap. These moves often happen when a hardware company believes its technology is ready for more widespread commercial use.
Source: 8-K filing
Dr. Ray Johnson notified the company on August 19 that he is resigning from the board of directors. The exit is effective August 28.
The company stated that his decision to leave was not due to any disagreement regarding operations or policies. While board changes are routine, losing a director during a period of technical transition is worth noting for those tracking the company's leadership stability.
Source: 8-K filing
Rigetti reported $5.1 million in revenue for the second quarter, slightly ahead of the $4.4 million it brought in during the previous quarter. The company is still in its early commercial phase, losing about $16 million on an adjusted basis as it spends heavily to develop its quantum hardware. It ended the period with $541 million in cash, which provides several years of funding at its current spending rate.
The core of the business depends on making its quantum computers, machines that use advanced physics to solve problems too complex for normal computers, reliable enough for big companies to pay for. While revenue is growing, the stock is currently priced at a very high multiple of its sales. This means the company needs to show it can keep winning government and commercial contracts to justify its multi-billion dollar valuation.
See the full quarter, and how our tracked metrics did
Source: 8-K filing
Rigetti is scheduled to report its second-quarter results after the market closes today. Analysts expect the company to report a loss of about 5 cents per share on roughly 10 million dollars in revenue. While the company has a history of beating these estimates, the numbers themselves are currently less important than the progress of its technology.
We are watching for two specific things: growth in revenue from cloud and on-site system sales, and updates on the 1,000-qubit system. For a company valued at several billion dollars on very little revenue, any sign that the technical roadmap is slowing down or that customers aren't signing up for the new Cepheus-1 system could be a problem.
Management consistently hits its targets by small margins, showing they have a firm handle on their costs and research pace while the business is still in its early stages.
| Expectation | |
|---|---|
| EPS | $-0.05 |
| Revenue | $4M |
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