Rigetti Computing stock surges on CHIPS Act award and UK quantum investment

DARPA has selected IBM and IonQ to lead the next phase of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, aimed at developing a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The two companies advanced to Stage C of the program, which moves beyond conceptual plans to hardware tests conducted by DARPA's independent verification and validation team. DARPA launched the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative in 2024 to determine whether an industrially useful fault-tolerant quantum computer can be built by 2033, and IBM and IonQ both took part in the first two stages. IBM is developing its Quantum Starling fault-tolerant computer and expects to deliver the first fault-tolerant system in 2029, according to Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research, while IonQ is pursuing continued improvement and deployment of its Superion systems. The Stage C agreement has a potential value of $300M to continue validating IonQ's approach to delivering large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers, though funding beyond the initial obligation remains subject to future appropriations and DARPA funding actions.

IonQ has advanced to Stage C of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, signing an agreement with a potential value of up to $300 million to continue validating its approach to delivering large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. IonQ is among the first companies selected for Stage C, which runs through 2029 and will bring multiple generations of its Superion quantum systems into DARPA's independent verification and validation process. The company completed Stage A, where it defined the technical concept for a utility-scale quantum computer, and Stage B, where it developed a detailed R&D roadmap including technical requirements, designs, and risk-mitigation plans. Chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi called the advancement a significant vote of confidence in IonQ's technology roadmap and architecture, pointing to the sixth-generation Superion 256 as evidence the work is already happening. Funding beyond the initial obligation remains subject to future appropriations and DARPA funding actions.

IonQ has signed a contract to deliver its Superion 256-qubit trapped ion quantum computer to Florida International University, making FIU its flagship academic partner in Florida. The agreement adds to a run of recent announcements that also include IonQ's role at NVIDIA's Accelerated Quantum Research Center and a cybersecurity contract with Congruity360. The company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $64.7 million, raised full-year revenue guidance to $260 to $270 million, and ended the quarter with Remaining Performance Obligations of $470 million. About 60% of Q1 revenue came from commercial customers, 35% from international customers, and 35% from multi-product customers. IonQ's most followed valuation narrative pegs fair value at $48.00 per share against a last close of $43.29, implying roughly 10% undervaluation, while the stock trades at a P/B of 5.2x versus 4.8x for the broader US Semiconductor group and a peer average of 15.6x.

Quantinuum secured a finalized US$100 million CHIPS R&D award from the U.S. Department of Commerce to support trapped ion quantum computer manufacturing in the United States. The company also announced new collaborations with Quanta Computer and Oracle tied to its trapped ion quantum hardware. As part of the Oracle tie-up, Quantinuum will place its Helios quantum computer inside Oracle data centers to support quantum cloud computing access. Quantinuum, a quantum computing hardware and software specialist in the IT industry, has a market cap of about US$12.7b. The company said the CHIPS R&D award and Oracle data center placement support its push to integrate quantum systems with AI and high performance computing through partners such as Oracle and HPE, though heavy reported losses and the risk of delays around its Sol and Apollo systems remain open issues.

IonQ announced a real-time quantum error correction decoder that runs complex workloads without slowing quantum computations. The company reported new deployments at the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center, integrating its hardware into NVIDIA's quantum research stack, and disclosed a partnership with SDT in South Korea to support quantum computing access for regional enterprises and researchers. IonQ said the decoder handles benchmark circuits with up to 408 logical qubits and more than 31.5 million quantum operations with just 0.02% added time, running on a single off-the-shelf CPU while the quantum system keeps operating. IonQ, a US semiconductor player valued at about $17.4b, builds quantum computing systems for clients in the United States, Switzerland, and other regions. Investors will watch how many Superion 256 deployments move from contract to installed and active systems at sites like NVIDIA's research center, FIU and SDT's data center from 2027.

Bank of America initiated coverage of IonQ on September 28 with a Buy rating and a $60 price target, calling the company the largest public pure-play quantum company by revenue. The call lands as IonQ reported $80.1 million of Q2 2026 revenue, up 287% year-over-year, its strongest quarter on record and a fifth consecutive quarter of record results, with organic revenue up 132%. Management raised full-year 2026 IonQ revenue guidance to $280 million to $290 million and maintained its expectation for approximately 100% organic growth, while remaining performance obligations reached $485 million, up from $122 million a year earlier. Following its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater, IonQ said it received its first fully integrated quantum processing units from the foundry and plans to begin commissioning 256-qubit systems in 2027, and it announced Superion 256 deployments at Florida International University and NVIDIA's Accelerated Quantum Research Center. BofA also pointed to IonQ's semiconductor-enabled approach to scaling qubit counts and its expansion across quantum computing, communications and sensing.