Can Rigetti's 99.9% Fidelity Enable Large-Scale Quantum Systems?
Rigetti Computing RGTI is making meaningful strides in addressing one of quantum computing’s toughest constraints, fidelity. The company recently reported achieving up to 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity at a fast 28-nanosecond speed using its proprietary adiabatic CZ gate. Given that two-qubit operations are central to entanglement and error rates, this level of precision marks a key step toward building more reliable quantum systems. Notably, Rigetti is maintaining this progress within a superconducting architecture, offering a speed advantage over alternatives like trapped-ion approaches.
The company’s fidelity gains are tightly linked to its scaling roadmap, with performance reported at 99.7% for 9-qubit systems, 99.6% for 36-qubit systems and around 99% for its 108-qubit Cepheus-1. Rigetti is targeting further improvements to reach almost 99.5% on 108 qubits, approximately 99.7% on 150+ qubits by 2026, and 99.8% on systems exceeding 1,000 qubits by 2027, levels approaching the threshold for practical quantum advantage. Its chiplet-based architecture remains central to this ambition, enabling modular scaling beyond single-chip limits, though recent delays tied to coupling challenges highlight the execution risks in translating lab gains into stable, large-scale systems.
Peers Updates
IonQ’s IONQ long-term strategy is built around its trapped-ion approach, a technology known for delivering high-fidelity qubits and long coherence times—both critical for scaling toward quantum advantage. The company continues to make steady progress on its roadmap, recently rolling out its AQ 64 Tempo system while also reporting a record 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity. In parallel, IonQ has been expanding its technological breadth through acquisitions such as Oxford Ionics and Vector Atomic, strengthening its capabilities across quantum computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity and increasing its overall market opportunity.
Quantum Computing Inc. QUBT has laid out several growth drivers heading into 2026, highlighted by its February acquisition of Luminar Semiconductor, which is expected to start contributing revenue from the first quarter. The deal strengthens QUBT’s capabilities across semiconductor design, fabrication and packaging, while also adding an established customer base. Meanwhile, the company is ramping up its Fab 1 thin-film lithium niobate photonic chip facility, which has already begun generating early revenue and is likely to gain stronger commercial traction in 2026.
Beyond this, QUBT continues to expand across emerging opportunities, including photonic AI platforms such as Neurawave, along with quantum authentication and sensing solutions. It is also exploring AI infrastructure potential through collaborations with players like POET Technologies. Supported by a substantial $1.55 billion capital raise in 2025, the company is well-positioned to fund acquisitions, accelerate product development and scale its manufacturing footprint.
Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of RGTI have lost 11.4% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s decline of 8.3%.
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From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 11.9, above the industry average. RGTI carries a Value Score of F.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rigetti’s 2026 earnings implies a significant 73.4% improvement from the year-ago period.
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The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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