Rigetti Stock’s $100 Million Quantum Deal Has One Big Catch Traders Can’t Ignore

26 May 2026

NEW YORK, May 26, 2026, 06:04 EDT

Rigetti Computing shares were indicated slightly lower in early premarket trading on Tuesday, the first regular-session setup after a two-day surge of more than 50% in the Nasdaq-listed quantum computing company. RGTI was quoted at $26.36 at 5:31 a.m. EDT, down 0.23%, after closing Friday at $26.42, up 19.87%; it had climbed 30.57% the previous session.

The timing matters. U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for Memorial Day, and Nasdaq’s regular session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern, with premarket trading generally thinner and more volatile because fewer buyers and sellers are active.

The move followed Rigetti’s May 21 announcement that it had signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $100 million over three years to speed research and development in superconducting quantum computing, machines that use ultra-cold circuits to process quantum bits, or qubits. Chief Executive Subodh Kulkarni said the money would help Rigetti address “key scaling bottlenecks” and “get us closer” to utility-scale quantum computing. Rigetti & Co, LLC

The award is part of a wider federal quantum push. The Commerce Department said it had signed nine letters of intent totaling $2.013 billion, with IBM due to receive $1 billion for a quantum foundry, GlobalFoundries $375 million, and D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum and Rigetti among firms slated for about $100 million each. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investments would advance “American quantum capabilities,” while Bill Frauenhofer, executive director of Semiconductor Investment and Innovation, called the plan a “portfolio approach.” NIST

That gives Rigetti fresh validation in a field where investors often trade first and wait for revenue later. Reuters reported that companies involved in the federal plan rose between 6% and 31% after the announcement; IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the new IBM venture would give outside customers “the exact same capability” IBM has, while Infleqtion CEO Matthew Kinsella said the investment further validated that quantum computing is moving faster than many expect. Reuters

But the deal is not free money for holders. A Rigetti filing showed the proposed award would come with common stock issued to the Commerce Department, and the implied issue price would be the lowest of three closing prices — May 5, May 20 or the eventual award date — discounted by 15%. That raises dilution risk, meaning existing investors’ ownership could be reduced when new shares are issued.

Execution is the other hard point. Rigetti reported first-quarter revenue of $4.4 million and an operating loss of $26.0 million, while cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments stood at $569.0 million at March 31. The company also said its 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q system was generally available through Rigetti QCS, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and qBraid, giving traders a technology milestone to weigh against the losses.

The broader tape was supportive before the open. U.S. stock index futures rose Tuesday, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.77% at 4:50 a.m. ET, as investors returned from the holiday with a firmer appetite for risk and chip-linked names.

For Tuesday, the test is whether Rigetti can hold last week’s gains once regular volume returns. The stock now has government backing in its story, a cleaner balance-sheet cushion than many early-stage technology companies, and peer momentum from IBM and D-Wave. It also has a preliminary agreement, possible share issuance and a business still proving that quantum hardware can turn technical progress into durable revenue.

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Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and technology to emerging industries and developments across global markets. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and worked in market research before becoming a financial journalist. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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