D-Wave Quantum (QBTS Quick QuoteQBTS - Free Report) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI Quick QuoteRGTI - Free Report) are stepping into the spotlight as speculative pure plays in the emerging quantum economy, buoyed by the growing interest of big technology players in the quantum landscape.

International Business Machines (IBM Quick QuoteIBM - Free Report) recently partnered with Advanced Micro Devices or AMD to build quantum-centric supercomputers, a major step toward merging quantum and classical computing at scale. Microsoft (MSFT Quick QuoteMSFT - Free Report) is also advancing its “Quantum Safe” roadmap, aiming to embed post-quantum cryptography across its platforms by 2029-2033. Meanwhile, NVIDIA (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) is expanding its hybrid-computing push by launching a large Quantum-AI research center to advance quantum-classical integration. This surge of attention by the bigwigs is drawing fresh investor focus toward the smaller players.

Against this big-tech momentum, QBTS and RGTI stand as potential market movers, though their future remains uncertain in a market defined by both exponential opportunity and existential risk.

Let's delve deeper.

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Meanwhile, over the past six months, shares of QBTS have skyrocketed 210.8%, strongly outperforming RGTI’s 99.9% gain. Both the stocks marched well ahead of the S&P 500 index’s 11.6% rise.

How D-Wave is Placed in the Evolving Landscape

D-Wave is a leading commercial provider of annealing quantum systems, different from rivals pursuing gate-model architectures. The May 2025 launch of its Advantage2 quantum computer was a major milestone, showcasing real-world quantum supremacy in materials simulation and delivering significant performance gains in coherence, energy scaling and qubit connectivity. D-Wave argues that annealing is not a niche technology but a scalable solution for optimization, simulation and AI workloads — a view supported by growing partnerships with firms like Japan Tobacco, Triumph and global institutions such as Yonsei University and the Julich Supercomputing Center.

On the financial side, the last-reported second-quarter 2025 revenues rose 42% year over year to $3.1 million, with bookings nearly doubling and margins above 70%. Crucially, a record $819 million cash balance gives the company resources to advance its roadmap toward 100,000 qubits and expand hybrid quantum-AI applications. With customers spanning GE Vernova, Nikon, NTT, Sharp and Oxford University, D-Wave is proving annealing’s versatility.

Rigetti's Current Stance on Path to Quantum Edge

Rigetti is gaining market share based on its chiplet-based architecture as the foundation for scaling superconducting qubits. Cepheus-1-36Q, launched earlier this month, has been recognized as the industry’s largest multi-chip quantum computer. It is claimed to reduce error rates at a rapid pace, achieving a two times improvement in 2-qubit gate fidelity over its prior Ankaa-3 system in just six months. By leveraging chiplet technology from the semiconductor industry, Rigetti is moving beyond monolithic designs and gaining better manufacturing yields and consistency while proving that multi-chip scaling is both feasible and advantageous. The company is confident that this approach will enable the release of a 100+ qubit system with 99.5% median 2-qubit gate fidelity by year-end 2025, a milestone that would significantly advance the roadmap toward error correction and fault tolerance.

On the financial side, Rigetti strengthened its position with $350 million in at-the-market equity financing, ending the last-reported second quarter with $571.6 million in cash and no debt, providing the resources to support commercial scale-up. However, revenues were down year over year due to delays in U.S. government funding programs like the National Quantum Initiative. While gross margins fell to 31% and losses widened, management highlighted that technical milestones, not current revenues, are the core metric of long-term success.

Big Tech Momentum: Boon or Bane for QBTS and RGTI?

The growth of Big Tech in quantum computing is both good and bad for smaller companies like D-Wave and Rigetti. On the one hand, companies such as IBM, Microsoft and NVIDIA are investing billions into quantum hardware, software and security, raising the visibility of the whole sector and attracting fresh capital. This helps smaller companies because customers, investors and governments are more willing to take quantum seriously when big names are involved. For both D-Wave and Rigetti, this momentum provides credibility and a stronger market context.

On the other hand, Big Tech’s size and resources make the competitive environment tough. D-Wave and Rigetti both face the risk of being overshadowed by larger players who can afford longer R&D timelines and broader market reach.

Average Target Price for D-Wave Suggests a Better Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 10 analysts, QBTS’ average price target represents an increase of 37.22% from the last closing price of $15.45.

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Based on short-term price targets offered by six analysts, RGTI’s average price target represents an increase of 16.54% from the last closing price of $15.3.

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D-Wave Pulls Ahead as Big Tech Fuels Quantum Momentum

While D-Wave and Rigetti currently have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each, the evidence points to QBTS being better positioned in the near term. Its strong revenue growth, robust cash reserves, expanding commercial partnerships and higher analyst upside potential give it an edge over Rigetti, which is still contending with government funding delays and widening losses despite impressive technical milestones. This advantage is especially important as big tech giants like IBM, Microsoft and NVIDIA accelerate quantum adoption and validation, further raising the stakes for all players in the space. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.