Rigetti Computing (RGTI) 27th Annual Needham Growth Conference summary

Company overview and differentiation

• Operates as a full-stack quantum computing company with an open, modular hardware and software stack, enabling integration of external innovations.

• Focuses on superconducting qubit technology, leveraging semiconductor manufacturing expertise for scalability and speed.

• Sells both full systems and individual quantum processor units (QPUs), allowing customers flexibility in integration.

• Emphasizes R&D and technology milestones over immediate sales, with most current sales to government labs for research.

Technology and competitive landscape

• Superconducting qubits offer advantages in scalability and gate speed, with recent improvements in fidelity matching or exceeding competitors.

• Recent technical milestones include achieving 99.5% fidelity on an 84-qubit chip and real-time error correction with Riverlane.

• Introduced Alternating Bias Assisted Annealing (ABAA) for improved qubit frequency control, enhancing manufacturability and fidelity.

• Roadmap includes tiling smaller QPU chips to scale to thousands of qubits, following a chiplet approach proven in the semiconductor industry.

Industry developments and outlook

• Recent industry interest driven by announcements from China, Amazon, and Google, with Google's Willow chip and surface code demonstration being especially impactful.

• Surface code error correction is now being demonstrated in practice, not just theory, marking a significant technical advance.

• Expects to demonstrate narrow quantum advantage in select applications within a few years, with broader commercial quantum advantage in 3–5 years.

• Ongoing collaborations with government labs and agencies, with future sales growth tied to increased government funding and new technology releases.