Can Chiplet Architecture Solve the Sacrificing Ratio Formula for Quantum Scaling at Rigetti?

When facing the challenge of building ever-larger quantum systems, engineers traditionally confront a critical trade-off: how to scale qubit counts without sacrificing gate fidelity, performance stability, or manufacturing yields. This is where Rigetti Computing’s chiplet strategy fundamentally reshapes the equation. Rather than viewing the sacrificing ratio formula as an inevitable constraint, the company has engineered a modular architecture that sidesteps this classical dilemma, positioning itself to reach 1,000-plus qubits by 2027 with measurable confidence.

From 36-Qubit Chiplets to 1,000-Qubit Systems: How Modularity Reduces Execution Risk

Rigetti’s path forward is anchored in a simple yet powerful principle: build smaller, perfect units and scale them intelligently. Today, the company operates 9-qubit chiplets as its baseline; tomorrow, 36-qubit chiplets will serve as the foundational building blocks for massive systems. What makes this strategy compelling is the performance data backing it. Current 36-qubit chiplet demonstrations already achieve nearly 99.5% two-qubit gate fidelity—a metric that proves individual units can perform at the highest standard without monolithic scaling penalties.

By tiling repeatable, modular chiplets, Rigetti essentially decouples the challenges of scaling. Each unit can be manufactured, rigorously tested, and iteratively improved in isolation. This independence dramatically lowers execution risk compared to building massive, monolithic chips where a single flaw cascades across the entire system. Management’s confidence that these tiled units can support rapid progression toward 150 qubits in 2026 reflects not aspirational thinking but engineered reproducibility.

The modularity also preserves flexibility. As the company pushes fidelity improvements forward and refines manufacturing processes, it can upgrade components independently without redesigning the entire architecture. This agility—the ability to iterate quickly on individual chiplets rather than wholesale system redesigns—transforms quantum scaling from a speculative leap into a systematic, measurable progression.

IonQ and D-Wave Pursue Different Quantum Roads While Maintaining Fidelity Standards

While Rigetti pursues its chiplet strategy, the competitive landscape reveals parallel innovation paths. IonQ recently expanded its partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, announcing plans to deploy its next-generation 100-qubit IonQ Tempo system at South Korea’s National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence. This deployment into KISTI-6, a flagship supercomputing platform, establishes the country’s first on-site hybrid quantum-classical computing environment—a significant milestone for practical quantum-HPC integration.

Simultaneously, D-Wave Quantum demonstrated a contrasting but equally important technical breakthrough: scalable on-chip cryogenic control for gate-model quantum computers. By dramatically reducing the wiring overhead required to control qubits while maintaining fidelity integrity, D-Wave has addressed one of the quantum industry’s most stubborn engineering challenges. The company validated that cryogenic control technology developed for its commercial annealing systems transfers effectively to gate-model QPUs, amplifying D-Wave’s engineering leverage across platforms.

Both competitors are essentially solving versions of the same fundamental problem—how to scale quantum systems without sacrificing the performance standards that matter most. Rigetti’s chiplet modularity, IonQ’s integration into supercomputing ecosystems, and D-Wave’s control architecture innovation each represent distinct engineering responses to industry-wide scalability imperatives.

Rigetti’s Stock Momentum Reflects Market Confidence in Technical Roadmap

From an investment perspective, market participants have noticed Rigetti’s technical progress. Shares have appreciated 59.3% over the past six months, significantly outpacing the broader quantum computing industry’s 13.8% decline—a divergence that underscores sector-wide recognition of Rigetti’s engineering achievements. However, valuation tells a more complex story. Trading at a price-to-book ratio of 22.74, above sector averages, RGTI carries a Zacks Value Score of F, signaling that current valuations embed substantial growth expectations.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings implies an 88.9% decline versus the prior year—a forecast that reflects the quantum computing sector’s typical near-term cash burn dynamics as companies scale R&D spending. Rigetti currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), a balanced assessment that acknowledges both the technical progress and the valuation pressures the stock faces. For investors evaluating Rigetti’s trajectory toward its 1,000-qubit milestone by 2027, the real question isn’t whether the chiplet architecture works—the data suggests it does—but whether the market’s current expectations appropriately price in the execution and commercialization steps still required to translate technical success into sustainable profitability.