Supply chain woes and soaring inflation are among the reasons that Rigetti Computing is pushing back the timeline of delivering their 1,000-qubit and 4,000-qubit quantum computers, the company announced in its first quarter report.
Rather than 2023 and 2024, Rigetti expects the 1,000-qubit model to be ready in late 2025 and its 4,000-qubit system to appear in or after 2027.
The company added it plans to introduce a single-chip 84-qubit system in 2023 and plans to have their 336-qubit multi-chip processor available later next year, the statement reported. The company will model its single-chip 84-qubit quantum computer on the company next-generation chip designed for higher fidelities and increased connectivity. The 336-qubit multi-chip processor will combine the 84-qubit processor with its Aspen-M machine’s “modular, multi-chip scaling technology.”
When they appear, both the 1,000+ and 4,000+ qubit systems will build on the advantages gained from developing the multi-chip technology and next-generation architecture, similar to the expected 336-qubit multi-chip system.
Like every company, Rigetti is experiencing headwind from a range of impacts affecting businesses and the economy, in general, along with a shorter supply of capital.
They report that the roadmap goals are being pushed back first by, “higher-than-anticipated labor, equipment, and system component expenses are leading to increases in the costs associated with system development.”
Market and supply chain conditions have hampered the timely availability of input materials for developing the new machines, the company reports.
Rigetti’s available working capital coming out of its business combination close was lower than anticipated, according to the statement. This diminished capital has limited the company’s ability to absorb these increased costs and timing factors.
In a statement, the company’s founder and CEO, Chad Rigetti, still sounded optimistic about the future of the company and quantum computing.
“Rigetti delivered in the first quarter of 2022 to lay the foundation for our next growth phase,” said Rigetti. “We are excited to announce the anticipated launches of our next-generation single-chip 84-qubit quantum computer expected in 2023 and 336-qubit multi-chip processor expected later in 2023. As key touchpoints along our broader roadmap, we believe these machines will deliver increased performance across the key dimensions of speed, scale, and fidelity.
“Rigetti’s technology is nine years in the making, and we believe we are at an opportunity rich period of time. Our entrance to the public markets in March was another exciting milestone that has provided us with additional funding resources and increased brand recognition. I am incredibly grateful to our team whose deep technical expertise and powerful mission-driven focus is showing the world quantum’s promise,” concluded Rigetti.
On the financial side, revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 was $2.1 million, compared with $2.4 million in the prior year period, a decline due to the completion of the first phase of a large government agency project in the first quarter of 2021.
The company reported that government agencies are the source of most of the revenue, which it expects to continue over at least the next few years as the company develops and grows its Quantum Cloud Services (QCaaS) business.
Rigetti Computing entered the public markets early this year and trades on Nasdaq as RGTI. The company is covered in TQI’s data platform.
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