Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) shares rose 4% on Tuesday after the quantum computing company announced a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $100 million in funding to advance research and development in superconducting quantum computing.
The funding has been awarded through the CHIPS Research and Development Office Broad Agency Announcement under the CHIPS Act and will support three projects focused on addressing technical obstacles to scaling superconducting quantum systems.
Rigetti said the work is intended to accelerate its development roadmap toward utility-scale quantum computing.
Rigetti Targets Key Quantum Scaling Challenges
Rigetti’s wholly owned subsidiary, Rigetti & Co, LLC, will use the funding to pursue improvements across quantum system electronics, cryogenic infrastructure and chip fabrication.
One project will focus on integrating and miniaturising readout electronics into a more compact package. Another will seek to increase cryogenic capacity by orders of magnitude through a new cryostat architecture.
The third project will develop fabrication capabilities designed to support high-connectivity chip architectures.
Together, the initiatives are intended to address technical and infrastructure constraints involved in building larger superconducting quantum computers.
Funding Supports Utility-Scale Quantum Roadmap
Quantum computing is being developed for potential applications including cryptography, chemistry, materials science, mathematical optimisation and artificial intelligence.
Rigetti CEO Dr. Subodh Kulkarni said: “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.”
He added: “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 also said reducing the time and cost required to build quantum systems at scale could support wider adoption and strengthen the domestic quantum computing ecosystem.
Rigetti said governments globally are increasing investment in quantum technologies because of their potential economic and national security implications.
The $100 million agreement gives Rigetti additional resources to tackle several of the engineering challenges associated with scaling its superconducting architecture as it works toward larger and more commercially viable quantum computing systems.
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