As one of the few publicly traded pure-play quantum computing companies, Rigetti Computing has a lot to prove to investors. Its fourth-quarter earnings served as the latest test.
Rigetti posted an adjusted loss of 3 cents a share for the period, matching analysts’ expectations. Revenue of $1.87 million fell below forecasts for $2.3 million.
The company’s operating loss widened to $22.6 million from $18.5 million in the prior year and $20.5 million in the third quarter. Gross profit, a measure of production efficiency, fell to $652,000 from just over $1 million in the same period last year.
Other figures showed improvement. Rigetti’s net loss narrowed significantly to $18.2 million from $153 million a year earlier.
Shares tumbled 5.1% to $16.86 in after-hours trading following the report. Peers D-Wave Quantum and IonQ were down 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.
In a way, the results were to be expected. The company has cautioned investors that metrics such as revenue and gross profit will fluctuate wildly between quarters until the company achieves broader commercialization.
“For the next few years, we expect much of our revenue to be generated from development contracts and anticipated sales,” Rigetti noted in its latest annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CEO Subodh Kulkarni asserted Wednesday that demand for on-premises quantum systems from government clients and research institutions alike continued to grow. “These deployments underscore Rigetti’s role as a long-term technology partner supporting hybrid classical-quantum computing,” he said in a statement.
Evidence of that demand emerged alongside the results. Rigetti disclosed a purchase order for its Novera quantum processor from a Japanese research organization, with delivery expected in April.
Investors are eager for progress on the commercial front. Shares rallied in late September after Rigetti announced two purchase orders worth a combined $5.7 million. While the company declined to name the buyers, it described them as an Asian technology manufacturer and a California-based startup.
Kulkarni said Wednesday that the company expects to see “significant first-quarter year-over-year revenue growth” driven by a portion of those orders.
Not reflected in the latest earnings report: an $8.4 million sale to India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, a state-sponsored research organization, announced at the end of January. The system is scheduled for deployment in the second half of 2026.
The journey to becoming one of the best-known pure plays has been turbulent. Rigetti went public in 2022 through a merger with a blank-check firm. The company is named for founder and former CEO Chad Rigetti, who departed later that year. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti’s current chief executive, came on board shortly thereafter.
Over the years, Rigetti has aimed to develop its technology and scale up its business while also striving to become commercially viable and cut unnecessary costs.
It’s a delicate balancing act. In 2023, the company slashed 28% of its staff and appointed new executives. The following year, Rigetti and D-Wave briefly risked delisting from the Nasdaq for the second and third times, respectively. Both stocks were trading at around $1 at the time.
The most pressing challenges now concern Rigetti’s ability to generate revenue and, most importantly, turn a profit. Analysts previously have cautioned that Rigetti relies on government funding and contract awards to support its research and development efforts, given that its commercial progress remains limited.
The company in 2025 was selected to participate in a multi-year federal initiative assessing the viability of quantum computing, but failed to progress to the second stage of the program. The program would have provided Rigetti with additional R&D funding and third-party verification of its path to a utility-scale quantum computer.
Clearly, analysts’ concerns are not unfounded. Although Rigetti was awarded a $5.8 million Air Force contract last year, the government is only obligated to pay $1.3 million through 2028. This means the contribution to the company’s top line might not be as significant as investors had hoped.
Rigetti suffered a setback in January when it was announced that it was delaying the release of Cepheus-1-108Q, its largest, most complex system to date. General availability originally was slated for the end of 2025, but Rigetti is now targeting the end of the first quarter, saying it needed more time to work on the technology.
Between lofty investor expectations and ramping competition in the quantum industry, the road ahead is arduous. Still, Kulkarni struck an optimistic tone in the earnings release, describing Rigetti’s quantum architecture as a “core differentiator” versus peers. “Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our roadmap,” Kulkarni said.
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