Rigetti plans $100m UK investment to boost quantum computing push

The UK Technology Secretary has welcomed the funding, which includes the deployment of a 1,000-qubit system over the next three to five years

US-based quantum computing start-up Rigetti Computing has announced plans to invest up to $100m (£75m) in the UK.

The organisation said this represents its first major investment outside of its home country.

The move will see the company build a quantum computing system with more than 1,000 qubits within the next three to five years.

The investment comes less than two weeks after UK government announced a commitment of up to £2bn to support the development of quantum computing.

It also builds on Rigetti’s existing presence in the country, including the deployment of a 36-qubit quantum system at the National Quantum Computing Centre.

The system forms part of a consortium focused on advancing quantum error correction capabilities on superconducting quantum computers.

“Our presence in the UK has been marked by fruitful collaboration across industry, government and academia,” said Dr Subodh Kulkarni, CEO of Rigetti.

“The UK government’s unwavering dedication to advancing quantum computing technology is evident across the [country]’s entire quantum ecosystem.”

Liz Kendall, UK Technology Secretary, added: “Rigetti shares our ambition to harness quantum to improve lives, livelihoods and public services, and this $100m investment is a strong and immediate vote of confidence in our approach.

“The steps we are taking will deliver world-class infrastructure, access to talent and a clear pathway which turns ideas from R&D into real-world use, building an environment which will support more companies to scale up and grow on our shores.”

The announcement comes despite a challenging financial year for the company.

Rigetti reported revenue of $7.1m in FY25, down around 35 per cent from $10.8m the year prior.

On the other hand, the vendor secured a series of contracts over the past 12 months.

In January, it received an $8.4m purchase order to deliver a 108-qubit quantum computer to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), India’s R&D organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

In September, it secured purchase orders worth around $5.7m for two nine-qubit Novera quantum computing systems.

That same month, in partnership with QphoX, it was awarded a three-year $5.8m agreement from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance superconducting quantum networking.