French National Quantum Update: November 2025
Executive Summary
Local power, global reach. France’s quantum sector moved into November with strong push toward global collaborations and a clear push toward industrial deployment. Policy momentum centered on a Franco-German forum in Paris and Massy, where QUTAC, Le Lab Quantique, Quandela, CEA, and Fraunhofer — backed by both embassies — gathered more than 60 leaders from government, research, and industry. The discussions reflected a coordinated effort to shape Europe’s quantum roadmap and strengthen cross-border standards and applications.
French quantum companies remained highly visible in global markets. Quandela and NVIDIA reported a 20,000× acceleration in spin–photon simulations using CUDA-Q, supporting the broader shift toward photonic links for distributed quantum systems. Pasqal dominated business headlines with a series of international moves: deploying Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer with Aramco; announcing a $52 million expansion in South Korea backed by national and municipal partners; and forming a strategic partnership with LG Electronics, including an equity investment. Pasqal also became the first QPU offered on OVHcloud’s new Quantum Platform, a milestone for European Quantum-as-a-Service infrastructure.
Activity continued across France’s hardware, semiconductor, and hybrid-HPC stack. SEALSQ and Quobly launched a collaboration linking secure semiconductor architectures to scalable quantum systems. Quobly and QPerfect released a GPU-accelerated version of the QLEO emulator at SC25. Alice & Bob gained recognition as part of Sifted’s Future 50, and deepened technical ties with NVIDIA through NVQLink. The company also advanced hybrid workflows with the STFC Hartree Centre by integrating cat-qubit systems with SLURM, the dominant HPC scheduling tool.
Education and diplomacy rounded out the month. Université Paris Cité hosted a quantum-programming session for students and early-career researchers, while FSQS 2025 produced new France–Singapore agreements across algorithms, energy-efficient hardware, and photonics.
Policy
Building Today the Quantum Future of Europe For and With the Industry
A group of Franco-German willing players made of the Quantum Technology and Application Consortium QUTAC, Le lab Quantique, Quandela, CEA and Fraunhofer, with the support from the French embassy in Germany and the German embassy in France, took part in the French German Dialogue of Quantum Technology Players took place in Paris and Massy (France). This event brought together more than 60 selected experts, managers and decision-makers from innovation, corporates, research and public authorities from France and Germany.
Business
Quandela and NVIDIA Accelerate Quantum Spin-Photon Simulation by 20,000x with CUDA-Q
As quantum processors scale, they will need to be connected through photonic links. Photons are the only practical carriers of quantum information beyond the local chip: they are fast, can travel long distances, and preserve coherence even at room temperature. This vision of distributed quantum computing makes it essential to accurately model the gates and protocols that rely on photons to connect distant qubits.
Saudi Arabia Deploys Its First Quantum Computer with Aramco–Pasqal Partnership
Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, in partnership with Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, have achieved a major breakthrough for the Middle East’s technology landscape with the successful deployment of Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer— and the region’s first quantum computer dedicated to industrial applications.
Pasqal invests $52M to boost quantum computing in Korea
The investment by the French company is part of a major strategic expansion in South Korea, marked by a series of partnerships and support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korean government. French quantum computing firm Pasqal will invest USD 52 million in South Korea, creating more than 50 highly skilled jobs, bringing its industry-leading neutral atom Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) to the country, to advance research and development of quantum algorithms and industry-ready applications.
Pasqal, Europe’s leading neutral atom quantum computing company, today announces a strategic partnership with LG Electronics, the global leader in appliances and consumer electronics. The collaboration is underpinned by an equity investment from LG Electronics in Pasqal and marks a significant step toward advancing quantum computing to real-world industrial applications.
Aramco and Pasqal make history with Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer
Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, in partnership with Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, have achieved a major breakthrough for the Middle East’s technology landscape with the successful deployment of Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer — and the region’s first quantum computer dedicated to industrial applications. The deployment of Pasqal’s quantum computer powered by neutral-atom technology at Aramco’s data center, in Dhahran, marks a pivotal step in building regional expertise and accelerating the development of quantum applications across the energy, materials, and industrial sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East.
Pasqal becomes first QPU available on OVHcloud’s Quantum Platform
At Choose France – France Edition, OVHcloud, a global player and the European Cloud leader, announces the launch of its Quantum Platform, the first European Quantum-as-a-Service solution (QaaS). It will provide access to at least eight of the most advanced quantum computers, including the Pasqal Orion Beta QPU, available now. By facilitating access to quantum technologies, OVHcloud is now enabling organisations to prepare for the most complex technological challenges.
SEALSQ and Quobly Announce Collaboration to Advance Secure and Scalable Quantum Technologies
SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ: LAES), (“SEALSQ” or “Company”), a global provider of post-quantum semiconductor technologies and hardware-anchored security solutions, and Quobly, a pioneer in silicon-based quantum microelectronics, today announced a collaboration to explore the convergence of secure semiconductor architectures and scalable quantum systems.
Quobly and QPerfect Release GPU-Accelerated Version of QLEO
Quobly, a pioneer in quantum microelectronics, and QPerfect, the emulation and control specialist for neutral atom systems, today jointly announced a major upgrade to their quantum emulator, QLEO (Quobly Logical Emulator Online). The launch takes place during the Supercomputing Conference (SC25), underscoring the global collaboration and European excellence driving the future of hybrid quantum computing.
Alice & Bob Recognized in Sifted’s ‘Future 50’ List
Alice & Bob, a global leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, today announced its inclusion in Sifted’s ‘Future 50,’ a ranking of Europe’s top-performing emerging startups. Backed by the Financial Times, Sifted provides news and analysis on Europe’s startup community for founders, investors and startup operators driving innovation.
Nvidia and Alice & Bob unveil NVQLink to tighten GPU–quantum integration
Nvidia introduced NVQLink at its GTC Washington event, pitching the open system architecture as the missing low-latency bridge between quantum processors and GPU supercomputers. Paris- and Boston-based Alice & Bob said it is collaborating on the rollout, aligning its cat-qubit hardware and software with the new interconnect for real-time decoding, calibration and control.
Silent Waves Selected for the 2025 French Tech 2030 Program
Silent Waves has been selected for the 2025 French Tech 2030 program — a national initiative recognizing 80 pioneering French companies developing technologies critical to the country’s digital and technological sovereignty.
Research
Alice & Bob, a global leader in the race for fault-tolerant quantum computing, today announced the software integration of their future QPUs with high-performance computing (HPC) environments via SLURM, the world’s most widely used workload management system, present in 60% of the world’s top supercomputers.
Education and Events
Quantum programming session organised by the Graduate School Quantum Technologies
The Graduate School Quantum Technologies of Université Paris Cité organised a one-day introductory session on quantum programming, led by Vivien Londe, a quantum computing specialist. Attendees included interns from the Graduate School’s two masters programs, PhD students from the Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale (IRIF) and the Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques (MPQ) laboratory, and IRIF post-docs.
FSQS 2025 Expands France-Singapore Quantum Collaboration
France and Singapore’s quantum ecosystems signed three new research agreements at the second French–Singaporean Quantum Symposium (FSQS 2025) in Paris, strengthening collaboration in quantum computing (hardware and algorithms), energy-efficient quantum technologies and quantum photonics. Connections formed at the inaugural FSQS 2024 continued into 2025, contributing to some of the partnerships announced at this year’s symposium. FSQS 2025 convened leading researchers and industry partners to deepen bilateral research and move quantum discoveries closer to real-world applications.
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Topics
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.
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MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE
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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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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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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Aramco
Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran.
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LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc is a company based in South Korea that manufactures a diverse array of electronic goods. It operates across several business segments, including home entertainment, mobile communications, home appliances and air solutions, vehicle components, business solutions, and Innotek. The home entertainment segment focuses on producing and selling TVs and digital media products, while the mobile communications segment deals with mobile communication equipment. The home appliance and air solutions segment is involved in the production and sale of products like washing machines and refrigerators. The vehicle components segment is responsible for designing and producing vehicle parts. The business solutions segment engages in manufacturing and selling products such as PCs and solar panels. Innotek specializes in the sale of substrates, sensors, and related items. Notably, the primary sources of revenue for the company are the home entertainment and home appliance and air solutions segments.
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OVHcloud
OVHcloud is a French cloud computing company and the largest European cloud provider, offering a comprehensive suite of public, private, and hybrid cloud solutions, bare metal servers, and web hosting services. Founded in 1999, it plays an essential role in the space economy by partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to host massive Earth observation and satellite data platforms, such as the Copernicus long term archiving service and the Digital EO system, which aggregates storage, computing power, and AI tools for space research.
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SEALSQ
SEALSQ is a Swiss semiconductor company founded in 2022 that is dedicated to post-quantum cryptography and hardware security. It provides quantum-resistant microcontrollers and secure Root of Trust technologies to protect satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, and space-based data centers from advanced cyber threats and quantum attacks.
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Quobly
Quobly, formerly Siquance, was founded in 2022 to develop and commercialize a universal large-scale quantum computer using proven semiconductor-industry processes. Quobly specializes in silicon-based quantum computing, focusing on scalable quantum processors. It develops silicon spin qubit QPUs using FD‑SOI semiconductor manufacturing to address challenges such as high‑complexity simulations in energy systems, drug discovery, and materials. It emphasizes industrial manufacturability and cost efficiency, working with RTOs and semiconductor partners (e.g., CEA‑Leti, CNRS, STMicroelectronics) to deliver fault-tolerant quantum systems capable of tackling real-world problems now intractable for classical supercomputers.
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