Rigetti Computing Stock Gains on Government Funding Reports

TLDR

• Rigetti Computing stock rose 16.4% Thursday morning after The Wall Street Journal reported government equity stake talks
• Shares retreated to a 6.5% gain after Reuters couldn’t confirm the report and a Commerce Department official denied current negotiations
• The stock has rallied roughly 5,000% in 2025, climbing from under $1 to around $40
• Companies including Rigetti were reportedly discussing minimum funding awards of $10 million each
• Rigetti closed at $39.60 on October 23 and traded around $40.98 in pre-market on October 24

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Rigetti Computing had a roller coaster of a Thursday. The quantum computing company’s stock jumped as much as 16.4% before settling to a 6.5% gain by early afternoon.

Rigetti Computing, Inc., RGTI

The Wall Street Journal started the chaos. The paper reported that the Trump administration was in talks to take equity stakes in several quantum computing companies.

Rigetti was named as one of the companies in these discussions. Others included IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Quantum Computing, and Atom Computing.

The proposed deals would give the government shares in exchange for federal funding. Companies were reportedly discussing minimum funding awards of $10 million each.

Deputy Commerce Secretary Paul Dabbar was leading these funding talks. Dabbar previously worked as a quantum computing executive and at the Energy Department.

The arrangement would mirror a deal struck with Intel in August. The government took a nearly 10% stake in Intel by converting almost $9 billion in grants to equity.

Other quantum stocks caught the wave too. D-Wave jumped 20% while IonQ and Quantum Computing each gained over 10% in early trading.

Then things got messy. Reuters and Yahoo Finance tried to verify the Wall Street Journal story but couldn’t.

Contradicting Reports Create Uncertainty

The denial sent Rigetti’s stock tumbling from its morning peak. What looked like a done deal suddenly became questionable.

A Rigetti spokeswoman provided a careful response. She said the company is continuously engaging with the government on funding opportunities.

That statement didn’t confirm or deny the specific talks. But it suggested some level of dialogue does exist between Rigetti and federal officials.

The funding would come from the Chips Research and Development Office. The same office has been reorganized by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as part of his overhaul of 2022 Chips Act funding.

Lutnick recently clawed back several billion dollars from a tech research initiative. This move freed up capital that could potentially be used for new funding arrangements.

Behind the 5,000% Rally

Thursday’s volatility is just the latest chapter in Rigetti’s wild 2025. The stock has soared roughly 5,000% this year, climbing from under $1 to around $40.

The company hit an all-time high of about $56 on October 15. It has since pulled back about 25% into the high-$30s range.

Several real wins have helped fuel the run. In late September, Rigetti won a $5.8 million Air Force contract for quantum networking with partner QphoX.

The company also booked roughly $5.7 million in orders for two new Novera quantum computers. Those units will be delivered in 2026.

Rigetti launched a new 36-qubit, multi-chip processor on its cloud platform. These achievements gave real-world credibility to the stock’s rise.

But the company remains early-stage. Q2 2025 revenue was just $1.8 million, down 42% year-over-year.

Rigetti posted a $39.7 million net loss in Q2. Operating expenses ran about $20.4 million as the company invests heavily in research and development.

The company did finish Q2 with about $571.6 million in cash. That cushion came after a $350 million equity raise.

Analysts expect similar sales in Q3 of around $2 million. The company will report its next quarterly results in November.

At current prices, Rigetti’s valuation runs roughly 1,500 times trailing sales. Market cap sits around $13 billion to $18 billion despite single-digit millions in revenue.

Wall Street analysts show a unanimous Strong Buy rating on TipRanks. But their price targets tell a different story.

Benchmark’s highest 12-month target is $50, just 8% above recent trading. Most analyst targets sit in the mid-$20s, roughly 40% to 50% below current levels.

One Seeking Alpha analyst calls the stock “massively overvalued” given its market cap and lack of near-term profits.

Rigetti isn’t alone in this quantum frenzy. Trapped-ion specialist IonQ is up about 700% year-to-date.

D-Wave has climbed 3,000% to 4,000%. Google announced Wednesday that its new Willow quantum chip ran an algorithm 13,000 times faster than top classical supercomputers.

The Commerce Department official also clarified that Bohr Quantum Technology isn’t a candidate for funding. That’s the company Dabbar co-founded and led for four years, addressing conflict of interest concerns.

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