Quantum Computing Inc. — Blitz Index 27 (D)
A room-temperature quantum hopeful with a $1.3B cash pile and a $39.1M backlog — held back by bought growth, a negative gross margin, and controls that are not effective.
Last re-scored: November 14, 2026.
Quantum Computing Inc. enters the BlitzLab record with a first scoring of 27 out of 100, grade D, built from Speed 12 out of 25, Moat 18 out of 60, Creative Destruction 5 out of 15, and deductions of 8. The total sits 38 points below the 65-point line, and the shape of the score is the story: on the radar conversion used by the model, Speed converts to 48.0, Creative Destruction to 33.3, and Moat to only 30.0. This is a room-temperature photonic quantum company — trailing-twelve-month revenue of $18.9 million — whose third-quarter revenue of $9.5 million was 93% acquired photonics revenue, whose nine-month gross margin is negative 7.8%, and whose interest income of $13.0 million in the quarter exceeded its revenue of $9.5 million. Both gates pass, but both pass on the borderline: the first on a backlog whose quantum share is undisclosed, the second on a broad quantum market whose photonic slice has no published size. The fourth quarter of 2026 has not been reported at T, and its reporting date is unconfirmed — it is not a company-confirmed date and must not be presented as one — and no outcome is anticipated here. That is the balance of the record at T: a cash pile of about $1.3 billion, a factory build-out, a quantum machine still to ship, and disclosure controls that are not effective.
Gate 1, two pieces of product-market-fit evidence for a growth company, passes on a borderline basis. The backlog is real: contract backlog of $39.1 million, about 2.1 times trailing-twelve-month revenue, expected to convert over 12 to 18 months. Organic growth is real but tiny: revenue excluding acquisitions rose $0.9 million in the first nine months, to about $1.34 million from $0.484 million a year earlier. This is not the 'product revenue $0' pattern of ACHR and ARCT — the company sells $9.5 million a quarter of real commercial product. But the borderline is explicit: the backlog mix is undisclosed, the backlog shrank about $2 million quarter on quarter, organic revenue is 7% of the quarter, and on a like-for-like pro forma basis combined revenue fell 33.6% year on year in the quarter. Gate 2, a ten-year market ceiling at least ten times current revenue, also passes, but with low confidence. Revenue is GAAP revenue. The bar is about $189 million, ten times trailing-twelve-month revenue of $18.9 million. The addressable market is quantum computing broadly defined: $43–71 billion by 2035, or 227 to 375 times the bar, and even the narrowest vendor-revenue forecast for 2028 is 17 to 23 times the bar. The verdict is low-confidence because the room-temperature photonic slice has no published size and most of QCi's revenue is photonics components, not quantum computing — the market's growth reaches QCi's revenue only through Dirac commercialisation. The deductions are the other half of the gate story: 8 points — debt at minus 1, revenue quality at minus 4, and regulatory cost at minus 3 — so the company is not flagged. If the Dirac-3S ships in the fourth quarter and the acquired businesses return to like-for-like growth, the gates firm up; if the shipment slips or the internal-control weakness persists, Gate 1 is re-examined.
Confidence: Medium · Category: frontier
Score breakdown
| Section | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| A · Speed | 12 / 25 | Reported growth of +2,374% is bought — $8.8M of the $9.5M quarter is acquired revenue, and pro forma combined revenue fell 33.6% year on year |
| B · Moat | 18 / 60 | Direct sales plus acquired customer relationships plus foundry services, with a $39.1M backlog — but no network effect and a negative nine-month gross margin |
| C · Creative destruction | 5 / 15 | Room-temperature photonics displacing cryogenic quantum is a clear thesis — but with no production displacement proof and no shipped system yet |
| D · BlitzFailing | −8 | No debt and about $1.25B of net cash (D1 −1), a long-running material weakness in internal control with interest income above revenue (D2 −4), and a securities class action plus four stayed derivative suits (D4 −3) |
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Radar axes (0–100): Moat 30 · Speed 48 · Creative 33.3.
Watch item
Gates: G1 ✓ (borderline — backlog of $39.1M plus organic revenue growth of about $0.9M in nine months, but the backlog mix is undisclosed, the backlog shrank about $2M quarter on quarter, and pro forma combined revenue fell 33.6% year on year) · G2 ✓ (low confidence — the broad quantum computing market reaches $43–71B by 2035 against a $189M bar, but the room-temperature photonic slice has no published size and most of QCi's revenue is photonics components, not quantum). 38 points below the 65-point threshold — the growth is bought, the gross margin is negative over nine months, and disclosure controls are not effective. Watch the Q4 Dirac-3S shipment, Q4 revenue against the $30M full-year target, and whether the internal-control material weakness is remediated.
Strengths
- Contract backlog $39.1M (about 2.1x trailing-twelve-month revenue) — the backlog is real, though its quantum share is undisclosed
- Room-temperature photonic quantum computing — no dilution refrigerator, server-room deployment, a genuine cost-structure thesis
- Cash and investments of about $1.3 billion with no borrowings — years of runway while the factory build-out runs
- Dirac-3S first customer shipment targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 — the moment quantum product revenue either appears or does not
- Fab 2 investment of $70–80 million planned, mostly by March 31, 2027 — the NHanced acquisition turned a greenfield plan into an operating fab
Concerns
- Pro forma combined revenue down 33.6% year on year in Q3 — the acquired photonics businesses are shrinking on a like-for-like basis
- Nine-month gross loss of 7.8% and a 4.5% third-quarter gross margin — under-utilisation plus intangible amortisation, no low-cost producer proof
- Interest and other income of $39.5M in nine months exceeds revenue of $18.7M — the profit and loss is currently carried by the cash pile, not the business
- Material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, long-running since 2023–2024, disclosure controls not effective — D2 −4
- Securities class action (customers and contracts allegedly misrepresented, motion to dismiss pending) plus four stayed shareholder derivative suits — the allegation targets the commercial narrative itself
More Frontier companies
Other Frontier names on the Blitz Index, highest score first: Rocket Lab (64/B), Tesla (62/B), Illumina (61/B).
Scored next to this
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- Fermi — 29 (D)
- Pacific Biosciences of California — 29 (D)
Same sector
Next earnings
Not announced.
Coverage
Quantum Computing Inc. · Q3 2026 reported Nov 9, 2026 · Score 27 · Grade D
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Frequently asked questions
Why does Quantum Computing Inc. score 27 out of 100?
The Blitz Index adds Speed (12 of 25), Moat (18 of 60) and Creative destruction (5 of 15), then subtracts 8 points in deductions, for a total of 27 — grade D. The strongest section is Speed (12 of 25); the weakest is Moat (18 of 60).
What is Quantum Computing Inc.'s strongest area?
Speed — Reported growth of +2,374% is bought — $8.8M of the $9.5M quarter is acquired revenue, and pro forma combined revenue fell 33.6% year on year. It scores 12 of 25.
What is the biggest risk for Quantum Computing Inc.?
Deductions total 8 points — No debt and about $1.25B of net cash (D1 −1), a long-running material weakness in internal control with interest income above revenue (D2 −4), and a securities class action plus four stayed derivative suits (D4 −3). The concerns list also flags: Pro forma combined revenue down 33.6% year on year in Q3 — the acquired photonics businesses are shrinking on a like-for-like basis
When was this score last updated?
Last re-scored: November 14, 2026. Scores are refreshed after quarterly results; the date above is the most recent re-scoring.
BlitzLab scores businesses against a scholar’s standard — not investment advice. No price targets, no buy/sell recommendations. Figures are from SEC filings (XBRL) as labeled in the source scorecard.