Rigetti Targets 2x-3x Coherence Gain in 108-Qubit Cepheus System
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 12
Rigetti Targets 2x-3x Coherence Gain in 108-Qubit Cepheus System
1 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 12
Summary
Rigetti said its 108-qubit Cepheus-1 system is now limited less by qubit count than by coherence times of about 25-30 microseconds, which are holding back two-qubit gate fidelity and overall reliability.
Management identified coherence as the main technical hurdle on its second-quarter 2026 earnings call, shifting the company’s near-term focus toward processor quality rather than simply scaling qubits.
Chip redesigns, fabrication-process upgrades and materials changes—including tantalum-capped superconducting contacts—are the main levers Rigetti is testing to lift performance.
Those engineering efforts could double or triple coherence times over the next several years, but only if improvements prove consistent across processors.
The push is central to whether Rigetti can turn a generally available 100-plus-qubit machine into a more commercially viable quantum system for practical applications.