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Can Rigetti's 99.9% Fidelity Break the Quantum Scaling Barrier?
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Key Takeaways
Rigetti achieves up to 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity using its proprietary adiabatic CZ scheme.
RGTI reports 99.7% fidelity on 9-qubit, 99.6% on 36-qubit and about 99% on 108-qubit Cepheus-1.
RGTI advances chiplet architecture and refines its 108-qubit system to improve stability and scalability.
Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) is beginning to show tangible progress on one of the most critical bottlenecks in quantum computing, fidelity. During its fourth-quarter call, the company highlighted a key milestone: achieving 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity at 28-nanosecond gate speeds using its proprietary Adiabatic CZ gate. Two-qubit fidelity is widely considered the most important performance metric for enabling reliable entanglement, and improving it meaningfully reduces error rates as systems scale.
What stands out is that Rigetti is pairing this improvement with high-speed superconducting architecture, giving it a potential edge over slower modalities like trapped ions. For investors, this signals that Rigetti is not just chasing qubit count milestones but is actively addressing the underlying physics required to make larger systems usable.
More importantly, this fidelity progress directly feeds into Rigetti’s broader scaling roadmap. The company is targeting a 108-qubit system at approximately 99.5% median two-qubit fidelity in the near term, followed by a 150+ qubit system at approximately 99.7% by year-end 2026, and ultimately a 1,000+ qubit system approaching approximately 99.8% fidelity by 2027. While those numbers may appear incremental, they are critical steps toward the approximately 99.9% threshold widely associated with practical quantum advantage.
Rigetti’s chiplet-based architecture plays a central role here, enabling modular scaling beyond the physical limits of single-chip designs. However, execution remains the key risk; the company has already delayed deployment of its 108-qubit system to resolve coupling issues at scale, underscoring the complexity of translating lab-level performance into stable, commercial-ready systems.
Peers Updates
IonQ’s (IONQ - Free Report) long-term strategy is built around its trapped-ion approach, a technology known for delivering high-fidelity qubits and long coherence times—both critical for scaling toward quantum advantage. The company continues to make steady progress on its roadmap, recently rolling out its AQ 64 Tempo system while also reporting a record 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity. In parallel, IonQ has been expanding its technological breadth through acquisitions such as Oxford Ionics and Vector Atomic, strengthening its capabilities across quantum computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity, and increasing its overall market opportunity.
Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT - Free Report) outlined multiple growth catalysts heading into 2026, led by its acquisition of Luminar Semiconductor, completed in February, which is expected to begin contributing revenue from the first quarter. This acquisition enhances QUBT’s capabilities across semiconductor design, fabrication and packaging while also bringing in an existing customer base. At the same time, the company is scaling its Fab 1 thin-film lithium niobate photonic chip facility, which has already started generating initial revenues and is likely to see stronger customer traction in 2026. QUBT is also progressing across several emerging areas, including photonic AI platforms like Neurawave, quantum authentication and sensing technologies, and is exploring AI infrastructure opportunities through collaborations such as POET Technologies. Backed by a strong capital raise of $1.55 billion in 2025, the company remains well-positioned to support acquisitions, product innovation and manufacturing expansion.
Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of RGTI have lost 45.1% in the past six-month period compared with the industry’s decline of 25.9%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 9.5, 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 74.3% improvement from the year-ago period.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Can Rigetti's 99.9% Fidelity Break the Quantum Scaling Barrier?
Key Takeaways
Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) is beginning to show tangible progress on one of the most critical bottlenecks in quantum computing, fidelity. During its fourth-quarter call, the company highlighted a key milestone: achieving 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity at 28-nanosecond gate speeds using its proprietary Adiabatic CZ gate. Two-qubit fidelity is widely considered the most important performance metric for enabling reliable entanglement, and improving it meaningfully reduces error rates as systems scale.
What stands out is that Rigetti is pairing this improvement with high-speed superconducting architecture, giving it a potential edge over slower modalities like trapped ions. For investors, this signals that Rigetti is not just chasing qubit count milestones but is actively addressing the underlying physics required to make larger systems usable.
More importantly, this fidelity progress directly feeds into Rigetti’s broader scaling roadmap. The company is targeting a 108-qubit system at approximately 99.5% median two-qubit fidelity in the near term, followed by a 150+ qubit system at approximately 99.7% by year-end 2026, and ultimately a 1,000+ qubit system approaching approximately 99.8% fidelity by 2027. While those numbers may appear incremental, they are critical steps toward the approximately 99.9% threshold widely associated with practical quantum advantage.
Rigetti’s chiplet-based architecture plays a central role here, enabling modular scaling beyond the physical limits of single-chip designs. However, execution remains the key risk; the company has already delayed deployment of its 108-qubit system to resolve coupling issues at scale, underscoring the complexity of translating lab-level performance into stable, commercial-ready systems.
Peers Updates
IonQ’s (IONQ - Free Report) long-term strategy is built around its trapped-ion approach, a technology known for delivering high-fidelity qubits and long coherence times—both critical for scaling toward quantum advantage. The company continues to make steady progress on its roadmap, recently rolling out its AQ 64 Tempo system while also reporting a record 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity. In parallel, IonQ has been expanding its technological breadth through acquisitions such as Oxford Ionics and Vector Atomic, strengthening its capabilities across quantum computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity, and increasing its overall market opportunity.
Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT - Free Report) outlined multiple growth catalysts heading into 2026, led by its acquisition of Luminar Semiconductor, completed in February, which is expected to begin contributing revenue from the first quarter. This acquisition enhances QUBT’s capabilities across semiconductor design, fabrication and packaging while also bringing in an existing customer base. At the same time, the company is scaling its Fab 1 thin-film lithium niobate photonic chip facility, which has already started generating initial revenues and is likely to see stronger customer traction in 2026. QUBT is also progressing across several emerging areas, including photonic AI platforms like Neurawave, quantum authentication and sensing technologies, and is exploring AI infrastructure opportunities through collaborations such as POET Technologies. Backed by a strong capital raise of $1.55 billion in 2025, the company remains well-positioned to support acquisitions, product innovation and manufacturing expansion.
Rigetti’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of RGTI have lost 45.1% in the past six-month period compared with the industry’s decline of 25.9%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Rigetti trades at a price-to-book ratio of 9.5, 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 74.3% 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.