Rigetti Computing’s (RGTI) announcement on Friday that it will delay its Cepheus-1-108Q system to the end of the first-quarter of 2026 is a “modest” step back, Wedbush Securities said.
“As we had mentioned in our industry initiation report, we continue to view roadmap delays as the most likely risk to advancements in technology and fully expect there to be additional challenges and delays as quantum companies continue to invest in the development of their systems,” Wedbush Securities analyst Antoine Legault wrote in a note to clients. “While Rigetti’s modest one quarter delay is slightly disappointing, we certainly believe it is better to have the technology ‘right, than rushed,’ and view this modest delay as indicating the company is indeed very close to achieving its objectives.”
Legault, who has an Outperform rating and $35 price target on Rigetti, added that the Cepheus 36 qubit system was deployed just six months ago. And since the company owns and operates its own fab, it’s able to “run iterations much faster than some peers who are not quite as vertically integrated,” Legault added.
