Rigetti Computing’s second-quarter sales rose sharply as the quantum-hardware developer delivered more processors and on-premises systems, offering evidence of expanding commercial demand even as research spending and losses continued to run far ahead of revenue.

The Berkeley, California-based company reported revenue of $5.1 million for the three months ended June 30, compared with $1.8 million in the year-earlier period. The increase of roughly 185% was driven primarily by Novera quantum processing unit sales and system deliveries, according to the company’s results and earnings presentation. Revenue also increased from the first quarter, taking first-half sales to approximately $9.5 million.

The quarter puts greater emphasis on a part of Rigetti’s strategy that extends beyond providing remote access to quantum processors through the cloud. The company is selling quantum processing units and integrated computers for installation at government laboratories, universities and research centers. These transactions can generate substantially more revenue than individual cloud-access contracts, although their timing makes quarterly results uneven.

Gross margin increased to about 43% from approximately 31% a year earlier, reflecting a more favorable mix of contracts and higher-margin product sales. The improvement suggests that system revenue can contribute better unit economics when deliveries reach sufficient volume. It does not yet resolve the company’s broader cost imbalance: quarterly operating expenses climbed to $30.3 million as Rigetti spent on research, technical personnel, fabrication and infrastructure.

Rigetti’s operating loss consequently widened to $28.1 million from about $20.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. Its GAAP net loss was $52.6 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, while the non-GAAP net loss was $16.0 million, or $0.05 per share. The difference principally reflected accounting items that do not represent current operating cash outlays, reinforcing the need to distinguish the company’s underlying expenditure rate from fluctuations created by warrant and other liability revaluations.

The balance sheet remains a significant source of protection. Rigetti held $541.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments at the end of June and reported no debt. That liquidity gives the company room to finance its technology roadmap despite continuing losses and a commercial market that remains at an early stage. It also reduces the immediate dependence on the proposed federal award, though sustained research and manufacturing investment could consume substantial capital before quantum systems reach broad commercial usefulness.

The most consequential prospective source of additional funding is a letter of intent signed with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Under the preliminary arrangement, Rigetti could receive up to $100 million over three years to accelerate research and development addressing technical obstacles to scaling superconducting quantum computers.

The proposed award is allocated under a CHIPS Research and Development Office broad agency announcement pursuant to the CHIPS Act. It represents the U.S. government’s effort to treat quantum computing as a strategic technology alongside advanced semiconductor design and manufacturing. Quantum machines depend on specialized chips, fabrication processes, cryogenic systems, control electronics and software, making the field closely connected to the broader domestic technology supply chain.

The contemplated structure differs from a conventional research grant because the Commerce Department would receive an equity stake in Rigetti consistent with the total funding. Existing shareholders could therefore face dilution if definitive agreements are completed and securities are issued. The economic impact will depend on the final valuation, the form and timing of the securities, performance milestones and the amount of funding ultimately disbursed.

The letter of intent is not a completed transaction. Rigetti and the department must still negotiate definitive agreements, and the company has cautioned that it cannot guarantee the timing or receipt of the contemplated funds. Awards may be tied to technical progress and compliance requirements, meaning the headline figure of $100 million should be viewed as a ceiling rather than cash already secured.

Management nevertheless presented the potential federal backing as validation of the strategic relevance of Rigetti’s platform. The funding could allow the company to pursue scaling projects more rapidly without relying exclusively on its existing capital. For Washington, an investment would support domestic expertise in a field with potential applications in national defense, advanced materials, drug discovery, financial modeling and energy systems.

Rigetti’s technology is based on superconducting qubits, the same broad modality pursued by several large technology companies and research institutions. Superconducting circuits offer fast gate speeds and can be manufactured with processes derived in part from semiconductor fabrication. Their challenges include maintaining qubit quality as systems grow, operating at extremely low temperatures and controlling errors that accumulate during computation.

The company’s approach uses modular chiplets intended to allow larger processors to be assembled from smaller quantum chips. Its Cepheus-1-108Q system combines twelve nine-qubit chiplets in a 108-qubit architecture. Rigetti argues that this modular design can provide a path to scaling while avoiding some of the fabrication-yield constraints associated with placing an increasing number of high-quality qubits on one large die.

Commercial progress during the quarter centered partly on the Novera product line. Novera is a nine-qubit quantum processing unit designed for customers that already possess, or plan to integrate, their own cryogenic and control infrastructure. It gives laboratories access to a physical superconducting processor without requiring them to build a chip-fabrication program or depend entirely on remote cloud access.

Such installations can broaden the customer base for quantum hardware by serving universities, national laboratories and corporate research groups that need direct control over experiments. On-premises access is particularly relevant for researchers studying calibration, error mitigation, control systems and hybrid quantum-classical computing. It can also meet institutional requirements concerning data control, system availability and integration with high-performance computing resources.

Rigetti said it was fulfilling recently announced orders for Novera-based systems and advancing a larger contract with India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, or C-DAC. The company announced in January that its Indian subsidiary had received an $8.4 million purchase order for a 108-qubit computer to be installed at C-DAC’s Bengaluru facility. Deployment was scheduled for the second half of 2026.

The Indian order is material relative to Rigetti’s present revenue base and demonstrates the importance of sovereign technology programs to the quantum sector. Governments are building domestic capabilities not only to explore future applications but also to train technical workers and reduce dependence on foreign-controlled infrastructure. For Rigetti, completing the installation on schedule would provide an important reference customer for its modular 108-qubit system.

Revenue recognition from large system contracts may occur over multiple periods and depends on delivery terms, installation, customer acceptance and technical milestones. That creates volatility and limits the usefulness of extrapolating one strong quarter into a stable annual run rate. A small number of contracts can significantly affect reported sales, margins and deferred revenue in any given period.

Rigetti is also extending its role in hybrid quantum-classical computing through a collaboration involving Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. The company plans to deploy a quantum computer at the center’s TangleLab testbed, which is supported by a National Science Foundation grant. The system is intended to operate alongside conventional high-performance computing resources.

That model reflects the industry’s expectation that useful quantum computers will initially function as specialized accelerators rather than replacements for classical machines. A conventional supercomputer may prepare data, optimize a workflow and process results, while a quantum processor handles selected operations that could eventually offer a computational advantage. Tight integration is therefore a practical requirement for research into real-world workloads.

The Pittsburgh project can give Rigetti’s hardware exposure to researchers developing software and orchestration methods for mixed computing environments. It also strengthens a strategic relationship with HPE, an established supplier of supercomputing systems. For a small quantum-hardware company, partnerships with infrastructure providers and research centers can help build an ecosystem without requiring it to supply every layer of a production computing environment independently.

Cloud distribution remains another component of the strategy. Rigetti operates its Quantum Cloud Services platform and makes systems available through external cloud channels, allowing developers to test algorithms without purchasing hardware. Cloud access expands the potential user pool, while on-premises products target institutions willing to make larger commitments to dedicated infrastructure. The two channels can reinforce one another by allowing prospective buyers to evaluate the technology remotely before considering an installation.

The central technical question is whether Rigetti can improve processor fidelity while increasing qubit counts. A machine with more qubits is not necessarily more useful if errors prevent sufficiently deep or accurate computations. Investors and customers must therefore assess system performance, gate fidelity, uptime, calibration stability and application results alongside headline qubit numbers.

Rigetti has outlined a roadmap toward higher-performance Cepheus systems and, over a longer horizon, a platform with roughly 1,000 qubits intended to pursue quantum advantage. Achieving that objective would require improvements across chip design, fabrication yield, packaging, control electronics, error correction and software. The proposed Commerce Department program appears designed to support precisely these scaling bottlenecks, but funding alone would not eliminate the scientific and engineering risks.

Competition is also intensifying. Publicly traded specialists and large technology companies are pursuing superconducting, trapped-ion, neutral-atom, photonic and annealing systems. Each architecture offers a different combination of speed, connectivity, fidelity, manufacturability and error-correction potential. Commercial leadership remains unsettled because no platform has yet demonstrated broadly applicable, fault-tolerant quantum computing at economically meaningful scale.

Against that backdrop, Rigetti’s second-quarter revenue growth is an encouraging commercial signal rather than evidence of a mature market. The company is converting some technical development into product sales, establishing international customers and placing hardware in hybrid-computing environments. At the same time, its operating expenses remain nearly six times quarterly revenue, and profitability is likely to depend on a much larger and more predictable order base.

The proposed federal transaction adds both opportunity and complexity. Up to $100 million would be substantial compared with current revenue and could extend the company’s ability to fund research. Government participation could also enhance Rigetti’s standing with laboratories and strategic customers. Conversely, the award would expose shareholders to dilution and could impose milestones or restrictions that shape spending priorities.

The company’s $541.3 million liquidity position means it can continue executing while negotiations proceed. That distinguishes the federal arrangement from emergency financing and allows Rigetti to frame it as an acceleration mechanism. The balance sheet, however, was built partly through equity financing, and future capital needs will depend on the rate of investment, the timing of customer payments and the pace at which larger system orders materialize.

For the remainder of 2026, the most visible commercial tests include execution on the C-DAC order, additional Novera deliveries and progress on the Pittsburgh installation. Technical performance updates will be equally important because repeat system demand will depend on whether customers can obtain reliable research value from the hardware.

Investors will also watch for definitive documentation of the Commerce Department award. Until those agreements are signed, the amount, schedule and equity consideration remain uncertain. Confirmation would provide a clearer picture of Rigetti’s future funding and the federal government’s role as both strategic sponsor and prospective shareholder.

The quarter ultimately shows two sides of the emerging quantum-computing business. System sales are becoming more tangible, and government-backed research programs are directing larger pools of capital toward domestic suppliers. Yet revenue remains small relative to development costs, technical milestones are demanding and large contracts can make growth appear smoother than the underlying market. Rigetti’s task is to translate its current orders, partnerships and potential federal support into repeatable deployments while improving hardware fast enough to remain competitive.