Quantum computing company Rigetti receives delisting warning, new CEO responds
On January 25, the Nasdaq Stock Market sent a notice to Rigetti Computing, a quantum computing company, stating that the market price of Rigetti common stock (RGTI) does not meet the $1.00 per share minimum closing price requirement of the Nasdaq listing rules based on the closing price for the past 30 consecutive business days [1]. This letter means that Rigetti may be delisted.
180-Day Compliance Period
Specifically, a 180-day compliance date is set forth in NASDAQ Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A). Rigetti will successfully survive this crisis if, at any time during the 180-day period from January 25 through July 24, 2023, the closing price of the Company's common stock is able to reach $1 for at least 10 consecutive business days. However, if Rigetti is unable to achieve this goal by the compliance date (July 24), the company may be granted an additional 180 days to meet the bid-price rule.
In order to regain listing eligibility, Rigetti will be required to meet the continued listing requirements for the market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing criteria of the Nasdaq Capital Market (other than the bid price rule); and, will be required to provide written notice of its intention to cure the deficiency by implementing a reverse stock split (if necessary) during this additional compliance period.
However, if the Nasdaq staff determines that Rigetti is unable to cure the deficiency or that the company otherwise does not meet the requirements of the additional compliance period and the company does not return to compliance by the compliance date, the Nasdaq Capital Market will provide Rigetti with formal written notice that its common stock will be delisted.
New CEO: Rigetti is still on the right path
Rigetti Computing is one of the oldest and once most promising companies in quantum computing.
In response to the crisis, Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti's new president and CEO, tried to reassure investors and company watchers during his appearance at the Needham & Co. growth conference [2]. Indeed, Kulkarni provided as powerful and clear an explanation of the potential benefits of quantum computing as anyone could possibly hear, describing it as the key to realizing the full promise of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous driving.
Subodh Kulkarni, Ph.D., has served as Rigetti's president and CEO since December 2022.
"Think about the human brain and how it works. You have millions of neurons interacting with each other at the same time, right? The ...... traditional computer world does everything in sequence: do one interaction, then the next, then the third, and so on. In that world, it's impossible to simulate a million things interacting at the same time. With quanta, it's possible to get superposed states of quantum bits; we entangle them with each other, just like the human brain entangles all the neurons with each other, and that gives us a completely different dimension - one that you don't get in traditional computing systems. That's the real essence of quantum computing: the ability to take on problems that are impossible to solve in the traditional computing world."
Companies that want to do more with AI technology and push it into new areas are running into limitations that traditional computers can't overcome, but that quantum computers can unlock in the coming years, Kulkarni said. Rigetti is on track to deliver on that promise, he insists, with a roadmap for its quantum computing systems that will enable hundreds, if not thousands, of quantum bits in the coming years.
However, the delisting notice also states in all seriousness that the company first has to overcome other obstacles.
The perils and opportunities Rigetti has experienced
Rigetti Computing went public in March 2022 through the Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC) merger, but parted ways with its chief operating officer soon after, amid reports that its windfall from the SPAC deal was not as large as it had hoped. rigetti has struggled to meet its revenue targets over the last year, and acknowledges macroeconomic hurdles, coupled with lower-than-expected gains from the SPAC merger, which could impact the timing of the delivery of its technology roadmap. By the end of 2022, Rigetti founder, then president and CEO Chad Rigetti was relieved of his leadership role and within days decided to leave the company entirely.
In December, the company hired Kulkarni, a semiconductor industry veteran who had worked for companies such as 3M and Imation and eventually became president and CEO of CyberOptics, which provides inspection and sensing solutions for electronics assembly and semiconductor process improvement. kulkarni also consulted for other companies in the semiconductor industry and says he wants to bring the industry's focus on quality more into the quantum realm, where he believes the industry is too focused on implementing more and more quantum bits in next-generation systems and not as focused on improving the coherence, or error rate, of existing systems as it should be.
I would push for fidelity as a more important priority than just pushing for quantum bits," he said at the Needham conference. I wouldn't say it's a sweeping change, but ...... With my semiconductor background, I'm a little shocked to see something like 96%-97% fidelity: the quantum error rate is actually so high; I mean, any classical computer system with a 4% error rate would be a disaster."
While Rigetti currently has an 80-bit quantum computing system available through cloud-based services from AWS and Microsoft Azure, Kulkarni said Rigetti soon plans to announce an 84-bit system - one that will achieve 98 percent fidelity.
Going forward, Rigetti will continue to focus on "systematic improvements in fidelity: from 98 percent to 99 percent, and then hopefully to about 99.5 percent by early 2024."
Reference links：
[1]https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/RIGETTI-COMPUTING-INC-134243126/news/RIGETTI-COMPUTING-INC-Notice-of-Delisting-or-Failure-to-Satisfy-a-Continued-Listing-Rule-or-Stan-42833051/
[2]https://www.fierceelectronics.com/electronics/can-semiconductor-veteran-revive-stumbling-quantum-firm
