NEW YORK, May 25, 2026, 17:01 (EDT)
- Nasdaq is shut for Memorial Day. Trading is set to restart Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.
- Rigetti finished Friday at $26.42, capping a strong two-day surge linked to the proposed U.S. government funding for quantum tech.
- Dilution is the main issue now—the planned award means Rigetti would issue shares to the Commerce Department.
Rigetti Computing is back on the board Tuesday after the break, with attention fixed on a possible U.S. Commerce Department grant that could bring in as much as $100 million. The news sent the quantum-computing name among last week’s most active stocks.
U.S. markets are shut Monday for Memorial Day, so there’s no new cash quote. Rigetti last changed hands at $26.42 on Friday, up 19.9% with volume over 204 million shares. That’s a jump of about 48% from the previous Friday’s $17.85 close.
What matters right now is more than just the funding. It’s about the message. Rigetti said its unit signed a letter of intent—so far, just a non-binding outline for future discussions—with the Commerce Department. The proposed deal is a three-year award aimed at advancing superconducting quantum-computing R&D.
Quantum machines rely on qubits to process calculations in ways classical systems can’t. The sector is still new, expensive and faces tough technical problems, but Washington’s action gave investors a clearer policy signal after several months of choppy trading in quantum stocks.
Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni said the new funds are aimed at helping the company fix scaling problems and “get us closer to utility-scale quantum computing.” The company said the department will take an equity stake based on how much it funds. Rigetti & Co, LLC
More than just Rigetti saw action. Reuters said the U.S. government is getting $2 billion in equity across nine quantum-computing names, handing around $100 million each to Rigetti, D-Wave Quantum and Infleqtion. IBM will get $1 billion for its new Anderon quantum-chip project. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Reuters customers will get the “exact same capability” IBM uses in-house. Reuters
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investments will help U.S. quantum tech, and Infleqtion CEO Matthew Kinsella told Reuters quantum computing “was coming much faster than anybody thinks.” That’s the bullish mood this week: government cash, national security reasoning, and a sector-wide push all landing together. Reuters
Rigetti is still posting early hardware numbers. First-quarter revenue was $4.4 million, with an operating loss of $26.0 million. The company ended March with $569.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Rigetti said the 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q is now available on Rigetti QCS, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and qBraid.
The deal isn’t locked in. Rigetti’s filing shows the company and the Commerce Department still need to settle final terms. The new shares would come at a 15% discount to the lowest closing price from certain dates, which may dilute current shareholders. Their stake would shrink, even with the government cash.
The filing named more risks, too: when or if a final deal happens, if it can get government money, hitting technical goals, getting products to customers, and business conditions. None of that is routine for a company whose shares jumped nearly 50% this week. These are the hurdles ahead.
Looking to the week, the focus starts with Tuesday’s opening bell. The Nasdaq’s normal hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, and Rigetti is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Investors are looking to see if Friday’s close stays intact, if the sector’s rally carries through to D-Wave, Infleqtion and IBM again, and if Rigetti offers more on the government stake. Right now, the stock has a policy catalyst, but the hardware story still needs to show it can support the valuation.
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