Rigetti Computing Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Key Points
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- Revenue increased sharply: Rigetti reported Q2 2026 revenue of approximately $5.1 million, up from $1.8 million a year earlier, driven by Novera quantum processing unit sales. Gross margin also improved to about 43%, although operating expenses and net losses grew.
- Technology development continues: Rigetti’s 108-qubit Cepheus-1 system achieved roughly 99.1% median two-qubit gate fidelity, with the company targeting about 99.5% later in 2026 and an eventual goal of 1,000 qubits and 99.9% fidelity.
- Expansion is supported by a strong balance sheet and potential funding: The company held approximately $541.3 million in cash and investments with no debt, while pursuing up to $100 million in potential CHIPS Act funding that could accelerate development but may involve equity dilution.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of approximately $5.1 million, up from $1.8 million a year earlier, as the quantum computing company recognized revenue from previously announced on-premises Novera quantum processing unit purchase orders.
Chief Executive Officer Subodh Kulkarni said the quarter underscored progress in the company’s Cepheus-class systems, prospective U.S. government funding and its expanded collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
“Q2 was another important proof point in our strategy to combine technical progress with real-world access and long-term strategic partnerships,” Kulkarni said.
Financial Results and Capital Position
Rigetti reported a gross margin of approximately 43% in the second quarter, compared with 31% in the prior-year period. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Bertelsen said the change reflected contract mix, pricing and the contribution from Novera QPU sales.
Total operating expenses rose to $30.3 million from $20.4 million a year earlier, driven primarily by research and development spending, including engineering personnel, fabrication, chip design, control electronics, refrigeration and infrastructure for higher-qubit-count systems.
- Operating loss was $28.1 million, compared with $19.9 million in the second quarter of 2025.
- GAAP net loss was $52.6 million, compared with $39.7 million a year earlier.
- Non-GAAP net loss was approximately $16 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with $13.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, a year earlier.
- Cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments totaled approximately $541.3 million at June 30, down from $569 million at March 31.
- The company reported no debt.
Bertelsen said GAAP results continued to be affected by non-cash fair-value adjustments to derivative warrant and earn-out liabilities, which can create substantial quarterly volatility. He said Rigetti’s capital position provides runway for its technology and deployment plans, including investments in the United Kingdom.
Capital expenditures during the quarter were primarily related to Fab-1 and added dilution refrigeration capacity. The company expects elevated Capital expenditures in 2026 as it invests in refrigeration and fabrication equipment.
Cepheus Roadmap and Fidelity Targets
Kulkarni said Rigetti’s 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q platform remains accessible through Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and qBraid. The system is built from 12 interconnected nine-qubit chiplets.
The company reported median single-qubit gate fidelity of approximately 99.9%, median two-qubit gate fidelity of roughly 99.1% and gate speeds of around 60 nanoseconds for the 108-qubit system. Rigetti is targeting median two-qubit gate fidelity of about 99.5% later this year while maintaining its gate-speed profile.
Kulkarni said coherence time, currently in the 25- to 30-microsecond range, is the primary limitation on two-qubit gate fidelity. The company is pursuing chip-design, materials and fabrication initiatives intended to roughly double or triple coherence times over the next several years.
Those efforts include work with Fermilab involving tantalum-capped niobium superconducting contacts, as well as refinements to deposition, oxidation and etching processes around Josephson junctions. During the question-and-answer session, Kulkarni said Rigetti expects fidelity to improve at the 108-qubit level before the end of 2026, though it is being deliberate in testing upgrades before deploying them to cloud users.
The company remains focused on a roughly three-year objective of reaching approximately 1,000 qubits, 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity and gate speeds below 40 nanoseconds. Rigetti has begun investing in refrigeration and related infrastructure intended to support 1,000-qubit systems.
Potential CHIPS Act Funding
Rigetti previously announced that it signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a potential award of up to $100 million over three years. The prospective funding would support superconducting quantum computing research and development focused on scaling challenges.
The contemplated transaction would include an equity stake for the Department of Commerce consistent with the amount of funding provided. Kulkarni emphasized that the letter of intent is not a definitive agreement and remains subject to approvals, conditions and final terms, including the issuance of securities to the department.
Management said potential funding could accelerate work on multichip architectures, processor generations, control electronics, cryogenics, packaging and other scaling bottlenecks. Bertelsen said the company would weigh the technical benefits of the funding against potential dilution from any equity issuance.
Separately, Kulkarni said the company remains optimistic about progressing to Phase B of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, though he said the timing is difficult to predict. Rigetti continues to work with DARPA on the improvement areas identified for advancement to the next phase.
System Deliveries and Hybrid Computing Collaboration
Rigetti said it remains on track to deliver two nine-qubit Novera systems and a 108-qubit system for India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, or C-DAC, during 2026. The company expects to recognize revenue from the $8.4 million C-DAC order in the fourth quarter following installation and performance acceptance testing.
Bertelsen said increased deferred revenue in the quarter was mainly tied to C-DAC prepayments.
The company also expanded its collaboration with HPE and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, or PSC, to provide a nine-qubit Novera system for PSC’s TangleLab testbed. The National Science Foundation-funded project is intended to integrate Rigetti’s quantum system with an HPE-powered supercomputing environment for hybrid quantum-classical workload development.
Kulkarni said Rigetti will provide a full system, including the QPU, dilution refrigeration and control systems, while using third-party components where appropriate. He said delivery is expected in 2027, although the precise timing has not been established.
Management said customer engagement is growing across cloud, government, academic and commercial channels. Kulkarni said the company has recently won Novera-related business involving the University of Saskatchewan and a research arm of a large Japanese conglomerate, while commercial users have increasingly begun purchasing on-premises research systems.
Rigetti said it plans to update its published technology roadmap later in 2026 after gathering additional operating data from Cepheus-1-108Q and gaining clearer visibility into future system deployments.
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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