Rigetti Computing Announces $100 Million UK Investment for 1,000-Qubit Milestone

Rigetti Computing (Nasdaq: RGTI) has committed up to $100 million to expand its operations in the United Kingdom, marking the company’s first major capital investment outside the United States. The primary objective is to deploy a quantum computing system exceeding 1,000 qubits within the next three to four years. This move directly aligns with the UK’s recently established £2 billion national quantum strategy, which aims to secure the country’s position as a global leader in the sector. UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall characterized the investment as a "vote of confidence" in the government's commitment to procuring large-scale quantum systems by the early 2030s.

The strategic roadmap for this investment focuses on achieving a "TeraQuOp"—one trillion quantum operations—by 2035. Rigetti CEO Dr. Subodh Kulkarni emphasized that the UK’s focus on on-premises R&D and end-user engagement provides a "clear pathway" for scaling fault-tolerant architectures. This scaling will utilize Rigetti’s proprietary chiplet-based technology, which allows multiple smaller processor units to be tiled together to increase qubit counts without sacrificing the coherence or gate speeds of the individual components.

This commitment builds upon Rigetti’s existing infrastructure in the UK, which includes a 36-qubit system currently deployed at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC). Rigetti remains a proponent of superconducting qubits, citing their maturity and high gate speeds—currently clocked at 50-70ns—as a significant advantage over slower modalities like ion traps or neutral atoms. By manufacturing its chips in-house at its dedicated Fab-1 facility, the company intends to provide the UK ecosystem with a full-stack, quantum-classical platform capable of supporting defense, government, and enterprise-level research.

For the complete financial details and roadmap milestones, consult the official Rigetti press release here.

March 26, 2026