Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) announced a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce securing $100 million in funding intended to accelerate research and development of superconducting quantum computing. Shares of the company advanced about 4% on Tuesday following the announcement.
The funding is being provided under the CHIPS Research and Development Office Broad Agency Announcement pursuant to the CHIPS Act. Rigetti said the award will underwrite three separate R&D projects focused on addressing technical obstacles tied to scaling superconducting quantum systems.
Rigetti identified its wholly owned subsidiary, Rigetti & Co, LLC, as the recipient of the award and outlined the three areas of work the company plans to pursue with the grant:
- Compressing readout electronics into an integrated, miniaturized package;
- Expanding cryogenic capacity by orders of magnitude using a new cryostat architecture; and
- Developing fabrication capabilities for high-connectivity chip architectures.
According to the company, these projects are intended to speed progress along Rigetti’s roadmap toward utility-scale quantum computing. The company reiterated that quantum computing has potential applications across cryptography, chemistry, materials science, mathematical optimization, and artificial intelligence.
"We are proud to be selected by the U.S. government to accelerate R&D and progress against our roadmap to deliver commercially viable quantum computing capabilities," said Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. "Solving crucial challenges in scaling gives us the opportunity to transform the industry by putting large-scale quantum computers in the hands of America’s quantum computing researchers faster."
Kulkarni added that shortening the time to build quantum systems at scale and reducing their cost will allow for broader adoption and strengthen the domestic quantum computing ecosystem.
Rigetti also noted that governments around the world are investing in quantum computing technology, citing the national security and economic implications of achieving quantum advantage.
This funding agreement is structured to support targeted R&D work tied directly to engineering problems the company has identified as critical to scaling superconducting qubit platforms. The three technical thrusts address different layers of the stack - control/readout electronics, cryogenic infrastructure, and fabrication for higher-connectivity chips - each of which the company said is necessary to move toward larger, utility-scale systems.
Market reaction to the announcement was positive in the short term, as evidenced by the stock's intraday gain. Rigetti's statement framed the award as a boost to both its internal roadmap and the broader U.S. quantum research ecosystem.