New York, June 23, 2026, 12:04 EDT
Rigetti Computing shares fell in late-morning trade Tuesday, erasing earlier gains. The White House set a 2028 goal for building a top-tier quantum computer and announced steps to protect U.S. systems from quantum threats. Rigetti was down 0.6% at $21.25 at 11:49 a.m. EDT. It had reached $22.55 earlier.
The fade comes as Washington gives new dates and funding for quantum computing, pushing a field that investors have mostly seen as years away. Quantum computers rely on quantum physics to handle information and could outpace today’s supercomputers on some tough problems, though actual commercial uses are still taking shape.
President Donald Trump signed two orders Monday aimed at boosting quantum computing research and moving the U.S. faster toward post-quantum cryptography, a type of encryption that could stand up to attacks from quantum computers. “We believe this can happen by 2028,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, referring to the quantum computer goal. Reuters
The White House order set up the Quantum Computer for Application Development and Discovery Science program, or QC-ADDS, telling the Energy Department to get at least one quantum machine into a DOE site and make it available to scientists if possible. The order also gave the Energy Department a 90-day deadline to nail down technical specs and 180 days to look into possible private-sector partnerships.
Rigetti lands in the policy spotlight after the Department of Commerce said on May 21 it has signed letters of intent with nine companies for $2.013 billion in CHIPS and Science Act incentives. Rigetti is in line for as much as $100 million to develop superconducting quantum tech, readout electronics and cryostat architectures. The department will take minority, non-controlling equity stakes as a funding term.
Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni said last month the planned federal investment would help the company “tackle key scaling bottlenecks” and get it closer to “utility-scale quantum computing.” That term refers to machines strong enough to outperform classical computers on real tasks. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investments would boost jobs and U.S. quantum efforts. Rigetti & Co, LLC
Quantum stocks traded mixed. D-Wave Quantum gained 3.1% to $25.23. IonQ dropped 0.5% to $58.01. Rigetti’s market cap was around $7.13 billion. Tech ETFs were lower, with the Invesco QQQ Trust down about 3.0%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF slipped 1.3%.
Rigetti posted first-quarter revenue at $4.4 million, with an operating loss of $26.0 million. Cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale investments totaled $569.0 million at March 31. The numbers keep investors watching the story.
Rigetti said the quarter saw full availability of its 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q system on Rigetti QCS, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum, and qBraid. A qubit is like a bit in quantum computing, and boosting the qubit count can lift computing power, but error rates and stability are still key issues.
There’s a shorter-term angle than just computers. Matthew Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion, told Reuters, “quantum sensing can bring” benefits ahead of quantum computing. Kinsella also said the timeline looks doable. The orders direct agencies to plan for quantum-enabled sensors and networks over the next five years, Reuters reported. Reuters
The trade still faces execution risk. Rigetti’s filings point to tech milestones, government deals, funding, supply chains and hitting product targets as key to results. The proposed Commerce award isn’t a cash grant already counted as revenue, either—it depends on final terms.
Investors still treat Rigetti as more of a policy-driven quantum bet than an earnings story. Tuesday told that story, with a quick jump after federal funding news, then a retreat as traders weighed losses, long timelines and the soft tech tape.
