RGTI and QBTS Stock Slide as Growing AI Costs and Broader Tech Weakness Scares Investors Away
Quantum computing stocks suffered another sharp selloff on Tuesday as renewed weakness across technology and semiconductor shares exposed the sector’s stretched valuations, limited revenues, and growing dependence on future commercial breakthroughs.
Quantum computing stocks suffered another sharp selloff on Tuesday as renewed weakness across technology and semiconductor shares exposed the sector’s stretched valuations, limited revenues, and growing dependence on future commercial breakthroughs.
Quantum Computing Stocks Slide Again as Valuation and Commercialization Concerns Return
Quantum computing stocks suffered another sharp selloff on Tuesday after briefly rebounding on Monday, as investors once again reduced exposure to speculative technology companies. Renewed weakness in semiconductor shares, concerns over massive technology spending, and increasingly demanding valuations created a particularly hostile environment for high-beta quantum stocks.
The latest decline highlights how quickly sentiment can deteriorate across a sector that had become one of Wall Street’s most popular speculative technology trades. As investors become less willing to pay premium prices for distant growth prospects, companies such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum are facing renewed pressure.
Quantum Stocks Become Casualties of Risk-Off Trading
Shares of Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum plunged on Tuesday, extending a broader correction that has accelerated in recent weeks and erased a significant portion of the extraordinary gains generated during the previous year.
The latest selling wave appears to be about more than simple profit-taking. Investors are increasingly shifting their attention away from government grants, technological milestones, and ambitious long-term projections and toward more difficult questions about commercialization, profitability, revenue generation, and cash consumption.
That shift in priorities is particularly damaging for quantum companies whose valuations remain heavily dependent on expectations of future breakthroughs.
During the sector’s explosive rally, momentum investors pushed shares dramatically higher. However, once the buying pressure faded, the lack of meaningful earnings support became increasingly difficult to ignore.
RGTI and QBTS Give Back Earlier Gains
Selling pressure intensified across the quantum computing sector as Rigetti Computing fell back below the $15 level, while D-Wave Quantum dropped below the psychologically important $20 mark and traded near $17.60.
The declines have extended a painful correction that has wiped out a sizeable portion of the gains generated during the sector’s powerful 2025 rally.
The speed of the reversal has exposed the fragile nature of investor confidence in companies whose valuations are still based largely on future technological progress rather than established financial performance.
For investors, the problem is becoming increasingly clear: the higher these stocks climbed, the more aggressive the assumptions required to justify their valuations.
Semiconductor Weakness Adds to the Pressure
The quantum selloff was amplified by renewed weakness across the broader technology and semiconductor sectors.
South Korea’s KOSPI index fell almost 5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped more than 2% as semiconductor shares came under heavy selling pressure across Asia. The weakness subsequently spread into Europe and the United States, affecting memory manufacturers, AI infrastructure companies, and other high-growth technology stocks.
Even major chipmakers experienced sell-the-news reactions despite reporting strong results, reinforcing concerns that parts of the technology sector may have become vulnerable following years of powerful gains.
Quantum companies operate in a different segment of the technology industry, but they remain highly sensitive to changes in investor risk appetite. When traders begin reducing exposure to speculative growth stocks, quantum shares are often among the first to suffer.
Revenue Growth Still Fails to Justify Valuations
One of the biggest problems facing the quantum industry is the enormous gap between market valuations and current commercial reality.
D-Wave reported revenue growth of 179% during 2025, an impressive increase on the surface. However, its total annual revenue was only around $25 million.
That figure underscores how early the commercial quantum industry remains. Despite the rapid percentage growth, the underlying revenue base is still extremely small compared with the valuations investors have assigned to some companies in the sector.
D-Wave’s expanded AT&T partnership and strategic acquisition of Quantum Circuits have also increased investor focus on the company’s long-term spending requirements and the costs associated with building a commercially viable quantum business.
Rigetti faces an equally difficult challenge. Despite its dramatic share-price appreciation over the previous year, the company reported declining annual revenue compared with the prior period.
Rigetti also announced on July 27 that it was expanding its collaboration with HPE and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to build a new hybrid quantum-classical supercomputer. However, the latest share-price decline suggests that investors are becoming less willing to reward technological announcements without clear evidence of stronger commercial returns.
Government Funding No Longer Guarantees Enthusiasm
Government support was a major catalyst behind the quantum stock rally earlier in the year. However, investors now appear considerably less impressed by funding headlines.
D-Wave recently secured a $1.56 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to support participation in fault-tolerant quantum research initiatives.
Rigetti has also announced that it could potentially receive as much as $100 million under the CHIPS Act. However, the proposed funding remains subject to development milestones and is currently based on a non-binding letter of intent.
That uncertainty has weakened the impact of government funding announcements on investor sentiment. Markets are increasingly distinguishing between potential financial support and guaranteed revenue.
The Downtrend Is Back On
Shares of D-Wave Quantum were on a downward trajectory until October but reversed back then and fall below $13 in late March. However we saw a rebound off the 100 SMA in green in April which revived again in May.
QBTS Chart Weekly – The 50 SMA Turns into Resistance
After a brief recovery above $30, the stock came once again come under pressure in June, continuing the downtrend that has seen it decline nearly 75% from its October peak and is now trading below $20. Meanwhile the RGTI stock couldn’t climb above 30 and also reversed down in June, slipping below the 50 SMA, and is now testing the 100 weekly SMA and is heading toward $15 again.
RGTI Chart Weekly – Testing the 200 SMA
Technological Progress Fails to Stop the Selloff
Rigetti continues to make progress on its technical roadmap, including the unveiling of its 108-qubit Cepheus-1 processor and expanded cloud availability through major computing platforms.
Technologically, such developments represent important milestones.
Financially, however, investors are becoming more demanding.
The market’s focus has shifted away from processor specifications and research breakthroughs toward customer adoption, recurring revenue, cash flow, and the path toward profitability.
That transition could create further volatility for the sector. Quantum computing may eventually become a transformative technology, but investors are increasingly questioning how long they should wait for that potential to translate into substantial commercial results.
Quantum Stock Rally Faces a Tougher Reality
The latest selloff demonstrates that the quantum computing trade remains highly vulnerable to changes in market sentiment. Rising semiconductor concerns, elevated technology valuations, massive spending requirements, limited revenues, and uncertain commercialization timelines have combined to create a difficult backdrop for RGTI, QBTS, and their peers.
The sector’s long-term potential remains significant, but potential alone is becoming less effective at supporting aggressive valuations.
As investors demand stronger evidence of sustainable revenue growth and commercial adoption, quantum computing stocks may continue facing intense pressure whenever risk appetite deteriorates. For now, the sector’s spectacular rally has given way to a much harsher reality, with investors increasingly questioning whether ambitious technological promises can justify valuations that remain far ahead of current financial performance.
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