Rigetti shares jump amid delayed launch of most powerful quantum computer to date

Shares of Rigetti Computing, which develops quantum computing systems, rose 5% in early trading on Wednesday. The company – with a delay of several months – announced the launch of its most powerful quantum computer.

Rigetti shares climbed 5% in early trading on Wednesday to $14.50 per share. On Tuesday evening, the company announced the launch of its new quantum system, Cepheus-1-108Q, the largest in the industry.

Rigetti describes it as the industry’s largest and the most powerful system in its lineup by qubit count, the smallest unit of information in a quantum computer.

Rigetti had initially planned to release Cepheus-1-108Q by the end of 2025, but said in January that the timeline would be pushed back to allow more time to improve system accuracy. Products from IBM and IQM have reported comparable fidelity measures, “so Rigetti does indeed need to get their error rates down to be more competitive,” John McPeake of Rosenblatt Securities wrote at the time. In January, he initiated coverage of Rigetti shares with a “buy” rating.

After improvements, two-qubit gate fidelity – a key measure of computational quality – stands at 99.1%, and the company expects to increase it to 99.5% by the end of the year, according to the press release.

Cepheus-1-108Q is available to customers and partners through Rigetti’s quantum cloud platform, as well as via Amazon Braket, the quantum computing service from Amazon Web Services. This is particularly important for further growth in commercial sales, Barron's noted.

Rigetti shares have fallen 34% year to date. The move has largely been driven by broader market sentiment amid the conflict in the Middle East, according to Barron’s.

Barron’s said a potential catalyst for the stock could be expected growth in first quarter financial results, supported by the sale of one of Rigetti’s quantum computers to the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. For 2025, the company reported a 35% decline in revenue to $7 million.

Barron’s also noted that Wall Street has criticized Rigetti for its reliance on federal funding, with some analysts arguing that this limits its near-term growth potential.

Overall, the stock has 10 “buy” ratings from Wall Street analysts versus two “hold” and one “sell” ratings. The average target price of $32.10 per share implies the stock could double from its Wednesday close.