Does Rigetti's $8.4M C-DAC Order Strengthen Its Path to Scale?

Rigetti Computing’s RGTI $8.4 million purchase orderto deliver a 108-qubit quantum computer from C-DAC marks a meaningful validation of its system-led scaling strategy, shifting the narrative beyond experimental cloud access toward tangible, on-premises deployments. Unlike usage-based quantum cloud revenues that remain early and volatile, this deal reflects a government-backed commitment to own and integrate quantum hardware into the national supercomputing infrastructure.

The 108-qubit system will be installed directly within C-DAC’s Bengaluru data center and is scheduled to be deployed in the second half of 2026. This matters because it shifts Rigetti’s image from a speculative research vendor to an infrastructure supplier serving national computing priorities. Government buyers typically move slower, but once they commit, contracts tend to be longer-term, more stable, and less sensitive to pricing.

More strategically, the order underscores growing confidence in Rigetti’s chiplet-based architecture, which management sees as the foundation for scaling toward error-corrected, fault-tolerant systems. By winning a follow-on order after its 2025 MoU with C-DAC, Rigetti demonstrates it can convert research partnerships into revenue-generating system sales, a key hurdle for pure-play quantum hardware companies.

While $8.4 million alone is not likely to materially change Rigetti’s financial profile, it strengthens proof-of-concept for a repeatable go-to-market motion in government and defense-adjacent markets.

Peers Updates

D-Wave Quantum QBTS recently announced a key technical milestone with the successful demonstration of scalable on-chip cryogenic control for gate-model quantum computers. This industry-first achievement addresses one of the biggest barriers to large-scale quantum systems. By dramatically reducing the amount of wiring needed to control qubits, without sacrificing fidelity, the breakthrough improves the practicality and scalability of gate-model architectures. Notably, D-Wave validated that the same cryogenic control technology already used in its commercial annealing systems can be applied to gate-model QPUs, reinforcing the company’s ability to leverage existing engineering strengths across platforms.

IonQ IONQ has expanded its partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, unveiling plans to deploy a next-generation 100-qubit IonQ Tempo quantum system to support South Korea’s National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence. The system will be integrated into KISTI’s KISTI-6 supercomputing platform, creating the nation’s first on-premises hybrid quantum–classical computing setup and deepening quantum integration within its national HPC infrastructure.

From an investor perspective, the collaboration underscores IonQ’s growing traction with government-backed research institutions and its ability to embed quantum hardware into large-scale supercomputing environments. This enhances near-term real-world applications while strengthening IonQ’s positioning as a durable infrastructure partner as countries increasingly invest in sovereign quantum computing capabilities.

Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of RGTI have lost 6.3% in the last six-month period compared with the industry’s decline of 20.4%.

From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 13.29, above the industry average. RGTI carries a Value Score of F.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rigetti’s 2026 earnings implies a significant 75.9% improvement from the year-ago period.

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.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research