Rigetti Restructures Around On-Premises Quantum Systems

Rigetti Computing has implemented a new operating structure, establishing a Chief Operating Officer role and a dedicated Systems Delivery organization. This new group will manage the installation of on-premises quantum systems. The company also announced the promotion of two existing executives, effective August 18, according to a press release. This represents an internal reorganization and personnel changes.

Details of Rigetti’s announcement

Rigetti stated that it is reallocating responsibilities previously held within its engineering group. A new Systems Delivery organization will be responsible for installation, customer support, and what the company terms “customer-facing engineering.” Chip and processor development will remain under the technology division.

David Rivas, who served as Chief Technology Officer since February 2023, has been appointed to the newly created Chief Operating Officer position. In this role, he will oversee fabrication operations, systems delivery, software engineering, applications, business development, government programs, supply chain, and facilities. 

Andrew Bestwick, previously Senior Vice President of Quantum Systems, has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer, where he will lead quantum processor development, chip fabrication development, and hardware engineering. Both executives will report to CEO Subodh Kulkarni.

Rigetti’s stated rationale for these changes is the increasing demand for on-premises deployments, which now range from 9-qubit Novera systems to 108-qubit Cepheus-class systems.

Confirmed vs. unconfirmed information

This change involves a shift in job titles and organizational structure. Rigetti positions it as a strategy to allow engineers to concentrate on processor performance, as a separate team manages delivery. Whether this will lead to improvements in either area remains an unproven claim about future execution.

The release references Rigetti’s published target of 99.5% median two-qubit gate fidelity for its Cepheus-1-108Q system. This is a roadmap goal, not a currently demonstrated result, and the release does not provide the current measured fidelity for comparison.

Kulkarni commented on the timing of these changes:

“Rigetti’s growing deployment activity makes this the right time to establish a dedicated organization focused on delivering and supporting systems for customers.”

Rigetti, traded on the Nasdaq as RGTI, has identified itself as a full-stack quantum computing company since its founding in 2013. Reorganizations of this nature are common as hardware companies transition from laboratory work to the deployment and support of machines in the field. The ultimate measure of success will be whether deployment numbers and fidelity metrics actually improve, though the announcement doesn’t address either.