French National Quantum Update: June 2025
Executive Brief
France’s quantum pioneers kicked off the summer by demonstrating significant progress in quantum technology across research, business, policy, and international cooperation. Paris Region continued its strategic push to become Europe’s next quantum hub, while French companies Pasqal and Alice & Bob gained national recognition through their inclusion in the Tech Next40/120 list. On the commercial front, Pasqal opened its first North American quantum factory and sold a 100-qubit processor to Canada’s Distriq, while Orange Business and Toshiba launched a quantum-safe network service in Paris.
In research, the EuroQCS-France consortium began offering remote access to a 12-qubit photonic system from Quandela to European users. Meanwhile, France strengthened global ties with Singapore and welcomed over 1,000 participants to the France Quantum 2025 conference, underscoring its international ambitions in the field.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the top stories about France’s national quantum ecosystem during June 2025:
Policy
Singapore Deepens Cooperation With France in AI and Quantum Computing
Speaking at the France-Singapore Frontier Technologies forum on Friday, Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, said the two countries were committed to deepen collaboration in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and clean energy.
Researchers in AI, Quantum, Cybersecurity and Computer Science: Choose France for Your Projects!
Inria pilots since 2024 the French Program Agency for digital science and technology (software, algorithms and usages), including the coordination of the research national strategy for Artificial Intelligence since 2018. This mission is organised with key national research players, including Universities, other national research institutes (such as CNRS and CEA), as well as the nine AI-Clusters.
Business
Alice & Bob Improves Quantum Simulation With New Software Integration
Alice & Bob,a global leader in the race for fault-tolerant quantum computing, announced today at GTC Paris the ongoing integration of the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform with Dynamiqs. This combination outperforms the most widely used libraries today, accelerating the simulation of complex quantum dynamics by up to 75x, on early benchmarks.
CUDA-Q is NVIDIA’s open-source quantum development platform for hybrid quantum-classical supercomputing.
Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced the acquisition of AEPONYX, a Canadian pioneer in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) – specialized chips in precise light control and manipulation. This strategic move strengthens Pasqal’s hardware platform and accelerates the company’s roadmap to fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC), a critical milestone toward unlocking quantum’s full potential.
Pasqal Opens New Quantum Factory, Announces QPU Sale to Distriq, Quantum Innovation Zone
Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced two significant milestones in its Canadian operations: the opening of its first North American quantum computer manufacturing facility in Sherbrooke, Québec, and the sale of a 100-qubit quantum processing unit (QPU) to Distriq, Quantum Innovation Zone.
Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced its 2025 product and technology roadmap – a comprehensive strategy structured around three core pillars: rapid deployment of quantum computers, demonstration of quantum advantage (QA) on industry-relevant problems, and an accelerated path toward digital fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC).
French-German cooperation advances Europe’s quantum computer Lucy
Two leading technology companies from Germany and France are joining forces to help shape Europe’s future in quantum computing: attocube systems GmbH, a company of the WITTENSTEIN group and specialist in nanotechnology, and Quandela, a pioneer in photonic quantum computer technology. The companies have been working together on the development of the European quantum computer Lucy. Representatives of the owners, Management Board and senior management of the WITTENSTEIN group took advantage of a visit to Paris to meet with the Quandela team and assess the status of the joint project.
Orange Business, Toshiba Partner to Launch Commercial Quantum-safe Network Service in France
Orange Business and Toshiba Europe have partnered to launch the first quantum-safe networking service in Paris, France. Orange Quantum Defender uses Toshiba’s Quantum Safe Networking technology, which combines Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for defence in depth. The service is now commercially available in the greater Paris area.
Quantum Companies Make List of France’s Top Tech List
A small but growing group of quantum companies has landed on France’s prestigious Tech Next40/120 list, signaling a strategic push to elevate quantum technology from research to real-world impact. The sixth edition of the French Tech Next40/120, announced June 5, 2025, includes two quantum-focused firms — Alice & Bob and Pasqal — among the country’s most promising technology scale-ups. The annual program, run by Mission French Tech, is designed to provide tailored support to 120 fast-growing French companies with global potential. Inclusion on the list suggests France is not just investing in quantum science but positioning startups as central to the country’s economic and technological future
Paris Region, at the Heart of the Quantum Revolution
Paris Region is now establishing itself as the European hub for quantum technologies and holds a strategic position in this global race for innovation. This ecosystem of excellence owes nothing to chance. This is the result of a coherent strategic vision and targeted investments that make this region a key location for international companies in the sector. The Paris Region Council and its president Valérie Pécresse are committed to continuing this momentum.
EIF Invests €30 million in Quantum Technologies And Deep Physics with Quantonation II
Despite remarkable advancements in scientific research, the deep-tech financing realm, particularly in quantum technologies, remains underdeveloped. The quantum computing sector is still in its infancy, with no established standards and an ongoing competition to define a global centre of excellence that could be based in Europe.
Research
EuroQCS-France: remote access to a 12-qubit Quandela system is now available for European users!
The EuroQCS-France consortium, led by GENCI and CEA, is pleased to announce that European researchers can now access a 12-qubit Quandela photonic quantum computing system remotely. This exciting development allows European users to begin programming and testing their applications on a real photonic quantum computer, months ahead of the anticipated deployment at TGCC (CEA’s computing center) of the on-premise Lucy system in the end of 2025. They can be supported by experts from a High-Level Support Team to port their applications onto the photonic quantum computer.
Pierre Rouchon, expert in systems control and quantum engineering, joins the Académie des Sciences
Pierre Rouchon, professor at the Centre Automatique et Systèmes (CAS) at Mines Paris – PSL and member of the ENS-INRIA-Mines Quantic team , has been elected a member of the FrenchAcademy of Sciences, which recognizes researchers who have made a profound impact on their discipline. This title, awarded after a rigorous selection process by peers, recognizes an exceptional scientific career. A specialist in automatic control and quantum technologies, Pierre Rouchon has contributed to major advances, notably in the real-time control of quantum systems, paving the way for innovative applications in this cutting-edge field.
Education and Events
France Quantum 2025: A 4th Edition Focused on the Internationalization of Quantum Technologies
The France Quantum Conference returns for its fourth edition on June 10, 2025, at Station F in Paris. This major event, co-founded by OVHcloud, will bring together over 1,000 participants and 60 international experts in the quantum sector, making Station F, the world’s largest startup incubator, the epicenter of quantum innovation for a day.
Keep track of everything going on in the Quantum Technology Market. In one place.
Matt Swayne
With a several-decades long background in journalism and communications, Matt Swayne has worked as a science communicator for an R1 university for more than 12 years, specializing in translating high tech and deep tech for the general audience. He has served as a writer, editor and analyst at The Quantum Insider since its inception. In addition to his service as a science communicator, Matt also develops courses to improve the media and communications skills of scientists and has taught courses.
[email protected]
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MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE
PASQAL
PASQAL’s quantum computers control neutral atoms with optical tweezers using lasers to manipulate quantum registers with up to a few hundred qubits. Location in Boston MA.
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Alice&Bob
Alice&Bob are working towards building an error corrected, fault tolerant quantum computer. They are working with superconducting circuits called ‘Cat Qubits’ which reduce the hardware required for error correction. With a cat Qubit, it is possible to stabilize two particular states in which quantum information is encoded autonomously.
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Toshiba
Toshiba Corporation is a multinational conglomerate formed in 1939 through the merger of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki. It operates across a wide array of industries including consumer electronics, home appliances, semiconductors, storage products, medical equipment, power systems, elevators, escalators, air conditioners, lighting, and batteries. Toshiba is renowned for its technological innovations and global presence in various sectors.
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Quandela
Quandela is a French startup that specializes in photonic quantum computing by providing modular, scalable, and energy-efficient photonic quantum computers, accessible both on the cloud and on premise. They provide prototyping services with their Perceval simulator alongside their general purpose chips optimized chips, and development of algorithms and protocols which provide photonic solutions for applications ranging from pharmaceutical and material design, to quantum machine learning, networking and optimization.
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CNRS
The French National Centre for Scientific Research is among the world's leading research institutions. Its scientists explore the living world, matter, the Universe, and the functioning of human societies in order to meet the major challenges of today and tomorrow. Internationally recognised for the excellence of its scientific research, the CNRS is a reference in the world of research and development, as well as for the general public.
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NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is an American multinational technology company and a global player in accelerated computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Founded in 1993, the company pushes the aerospace frontier with the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, a platform for orbital data centers that delivers massive AI-compute Space Computing. This NVIDIA technology enables satellites and autonomous spacecraft to process and fuse sensor data rapidly Space Computing.
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GENCI
GENCI (Grand équipement national de calcul intensif) is a French public organization that coordinates and funds the major high-performance computing (HPC) centers in France. It is a civil society owned 49% by the French state, 20% by the Commissariat energie atomique, 20% by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), 10% by universities, and 1% by the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control. GENCI aims to democratize the use of digital simulation, high-performance computing, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing to support French scientific and industrial competitiveness. GENCI collaborates with the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) to coordinate HPC resources and access across Europe. GENCI’s role is to implement the national strategy for equipping in HPC and storage resources, while servicing the three national computing centres (TGCC for CEA, IDRIS for CNRS and CINES for French Universities).
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