Rigetti shares rise about 49% in a week on AFRL contract and sector rally
Rigetti Computing stock climbed roughly 49% in a week, per Startup Fortune, helped by a five-year, $5.8 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract disclosed October 21 for quantum foundry services, quantum integrated circuits and cryogenic microwave components. The company says its 36-qubit (physical) modular system, built from four 9-qubit chiplets, reached a median two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.5%, which it says roughly halves the error rate of its 84-qubit (physical) Ankaa-3 chip; the article notes the figure comes from Rigetti's own benchmarking and has no outside audit. Rigetti reports about $575 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments with no debt, after closing a $350 million at-the-market equity raise. The article attributes much of the move to IonQ's results, which showed full-year 2025 revenue up 202% to $130 million and 2026 guidance of $280 million to $290 million, lifting D-Wave Quantum and Quantum Computing Inc. as well.