Rigetti secures $8.4M order for quantum computer from India
Rigetti Computing (RGTI) announced on Tuesday that it has secured an $8.4 million purchase order for its 108-qubit quantum computing system from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), India’s leading R&D organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Rigetti plans to install the system on the premises of C-DAC’s Bengaluru center, with deployment scheduled for the second half of 2026.
The company said in September that it had signed an MOU with C-DAC to explore the co-development of hybrid quantum computing systems to support India’s government laboratories and academics that are pursuing quantum computing R&D.
C-DAC is the nodal agency of the Indian government’s ChipIN initiative, which aims to strengthen its domestic semiconductor design capabilities.
Rigetti noted that the system it is delivering to India includes its proprietary chiplet-based architecture, which it said serves as the foundation for its path to scaling to "extremely high" qubit count systems that are required for error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computing.
“We are honored that C-DAC has recognized the value of Rigetti’s quantum computing technology and expertise by selecting our system for the first quantum computer to be installed and integrated into their supercomputing data center and systems," Rigetti CEO Dr. Subodh Kulkarni said in a statement.
"Our open and modular architecture enables the hands-on R&D and innovation C-DAC requires to bring hybrid classical-quantum supercomputing to their community of scientific and industrial partners."
He added that the purchase "highlights the growing demand for on-premises quantum computers as national governments prioritize quantum computing."
Rigetti's stock fell 2.5% on Tuesday, but gained some of that back in after-hours trading. Its shares are up 12.8% to start the year.
Rigetti said earlier this month that it was delaying the general availability of its 108-qubit quantum computing system, which is called Cepheus-1-108Q, until the end of the first quarter. This is a few months later than it had previously been expected to launch.
Kulkarni noted that the company had "encountered complexities with our tunable couplers and have decided to run another iteration of our chip to further optimize the system and improve fidelity.”
“While we are making strong progress with Cepheus-1-108Q, we are taking more time to test and optimize the system to ensure the performance is up to our standards,” he added.
“We have a clear understanding of what we need to do to achieve 99.5% median two-qubit gate fidelity, and are well on our way.”
Rosenblatt analysts, led by John McPeake, initiated coverage on Rigetti last week with a Buy rating and a $40 price target. McPeake noted that the firm sees "strong potential in tech strategy despite current execution delays."
"We like Rigetti's modular approach to qubit scaling and their internal fab approach," he said. "Although error rates and timelines are a bit of an issue right now, we're giving them the benefit of the doubt relative to the postponed Cepheus 99.5% two qubit gate fidelity in 1Q."