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Does Rigetti's $8.4M C-DAC Order Strengthen Its Path to Scale?
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Key Takeaways
Rigetti secured an $8.4M order from C-DAC to deliver a 108-qubit quantum system to a Bengaluru data center.
The deal follows a 2025 MoU, showing Rigetti can convert research deals into revenue-generating system sales.
While not financially transformative, RGTI's order supports a go-to-market model in government markets.
Rigetti Computing’s (RGTI - Free Report) $8.4 million purchase orderto deliver a 108-qubit quantum computer from C-DAC marks a meaningful validation of its system-led scaling strategy, shifting the narrative beyond experimental cloud access toward tangible, on-premises deployments. Unlike usage-based quantum cloud revenues that remain early and volatile, this deal reflects a government-backed commitment to own and integrate quantum hardware into the national supercomputing infrastructure.
The 108-qubit system will be installed directly within C-DAC’s Bengaluru data center and is scheduled to be deployed in the second half of 2026. This matters because it shifts Rigetti’s image from a speculative research vendor to an infrastructure supplier serving national computing priorities. Government buyers typically move slower, but once they commit, contracts tend to be longer-term, more stable, and less sensitive to pricing.
More strategically, the order underscores growing confidence in Rigetti’s chiplet-based architecture, which management sees as the foundation for scaling toward error-corrected, fault-tolerant systems. By winning a follow-on order after its 2025 MoU with C-DAC, Rigetti demonstrates it can convert research partnerships into revenue-generating system sales, a key hurdle for pure-play quantum hardware companies.
While $8.4 million alone is not likely to materially change Rigetti’s financial profile, it strengthens proof-of-concept for a repeatable go-to-market motion in government and defense-adjacent markets.
Peers Updates
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) recently announced a key technical milestone with the successful demonstration of scalable on-chip cryogenic control for gate-model quantum computers. This industry-first achievement addresses one of the biggest barriers to large-scale quantum systems. By dramatically reducing the amount of wiring needed to control qubits, without sacrificing fidelity, the breakthrough improves the practicality and scalability of gate-model architectures. Notably, D-Wave validated that the same cryogenic control technology already used in its commercial annealing systems can be applied to gate-model QPUs, reinforcing the company’s ability to leverage existing engineering strengths across platforms.
IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) has expanded its partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, unveiling plans to deploy a next-generation 100-qubit IonQ Tempo quantum system to support South Korea’s National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence. The system will be integrated into KISTI’s KISTI-6 supercomputing platform, creating the nation’s first on-premises hybrid quantum–classical computing setup and deepening quantum integration within its national HPC infrastructure.
From an investor perspective, the collaboration underscores IonQ’s growing traction with government-backed research institutions and its ability to embed quantum hardware into large-scale supercomputing environments. This enhances near-term real-world applications while strengthening IonQ’s positioning as a durable infrastructure partner as countries increasingly invest in sovereign quantum computing capabilities.
Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of RGTI have lost 6.3% in the last six-month period compared with the industry’s decline of 20.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 13.29, above the industry average. RGTI carries a Value Score of F.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rigetti’s 2026 earnings implies a significant 75.9% improvement from the year-ago period.
Image: Bigstock
Does Rigetti's $8.4M C-DAC Order Strengthen Its Path to Scale?
Key Takeaways
Rigetti Computing’s (RGTI - Free Report) $8.4 million purchase orderto deliver a 108-qubit quantum computer from C-DAC marks a meaningful validation of its system-led scaling strategy, shifting the narrative beyond experimental cloud access toward tangible, on-premises deployments. Unlike usage-based quantum cloud revenues that remain early and volatile, this deal reflects a government-backed commitment to own and integrate quantum hardware into the national supercomputing infrastructure.
The 108-qubit system will be installed directly within C-DAC’s Bengaluru data center and is scheduled to be deployed in the second half of 2026. This matters because it shifts Rigetti’s image from a speculative research vendor to an infrastructure supplier serving national computing priorities. Government buyers typically move slower, but once they commit, contracts tend to be longer-term, more stable, and less sensitive to pricing.
More strategically, the order underscores growing confidence in Rigetti’s chiplet-based architecture, which management sees as the foundation for scaling toward error-corrected, fault-tolerant systems. By winning a follow-on order after its 2025 MoU with C-DAC, Rigetti demonstrates it can convert research partnerships into revenue-generating system sales, a key hurdle for pure-play quantum hardware companies.
While $8.4 million alone is not likely to materially change Rigetti’s financial profile, it strengthens proof-of-concept for a repeatable go-to-market motion in government and defense-adjacent markets.
Peers Updates
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) recently announced a key technical milestone with the successful demonstration of scalable on-chip cryogenic control for gate-model quantum computers. This industry-first achievement addresses one of the biggest barriers to large-scale quantum systems. By dramatically reducing the amount of wiring needed to control qubits, without sacrificing fidelity, the breakthrough improves the practicality and scalability of gate-model architectures. Notably, D-Wave validated that the same cryogenic control technology already used in its commercial annealing systems can be applied to gate-model QPUs, reinforcing the company’s ability to leverage existing engineering strengths across platforms.
IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) has expanded its partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, unveiling plans to deploy a next-generation 100-qubit IonQ Tempo quantum system to support South Korea’s National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence. The system will be integrated into KISTI’s KISTI-6 supercomputing platform, creating the nation’s first on-premises hybrid quantum–classical computing setup and deepening quantum integration within its national HPC infrastructure.
From an investor perspective, the collaboration underscores IonQ’s growing traction with government-backed research institutions and its ability to embed quantum hardware into large-scale supercomputing environments. This enhances near-term real-world applications while strengthening IonQ’s positioning as a durable infrastructure partner as countries increasingly invest in sovereign quantum computing capabilities.
Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of RGTI have lost 6.3% in the last six-month period compared with the industry’s decline of 20.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 13.29, above the industry average. RGTI carries a Value Score of F.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rigetti’s 2026 earnings implies a significant 75.9% improvement from the year-ago period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.