Executive Summary
France’s quantum landscape is entering a new phase, with policy coordination, business expansion, and research milestones reinforcing its role in Europe’s technology ambitions. The Franco-German Council of Ministers has launched an economic agenda that places quantum among the priority areas for deeper bilateral cooperation. Leading investors, including Quantonation, continue to emphasize the need for stronger growth financing in Europe, while France’s sovereign wealth chief has cautioned that Europe must strengthen its position to avoid losing competitiveness to global rivals. On the business front, Alice & Bob is nearly doubling its workforce after a €100 million funding round, Quobly has reinforced its executive leadership, and RIBER has secured a U.S. quantum customer for its new ROSIE platform. French researchers are also advancing quantum algorithms and cryptography protocols, underscoring the country’s growing role in both fundamental science and near-term industrial applications. The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the big stories affecting France’s quantum ecosystem.
Policy
The President of the French Republic and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany presided over the 25th Franco-German Council of Ministers. Eight working groups on policy fields such as energy, trade and economic security, industry, cutting-edge technologies, digital sovereignty, competitiveness, Single Market and simplification, convergence/cooperation in the area of labour markets and social policy and finance have elaborated a Franco-German Economic Agenda. It contains concrete, operational projects as well as launching new processes leading to a better bilateral cooperation and joint initiatives. It marks the reset of a continuous process of improved and intensified bilateral cooperation in the spirit of the Franco-German friendship.
Olivier Tonneau (Quantonation): “We must accelerate growth financing in quantum in Europe”
While a European summit on quantum technologies is being held in Paris on September 24 and 25, Agefi met Olivier Tonneau. The partner and co-founder of Quantonation Ventures discusses the challenges in terms of financing the sector and reveals the next developments of the independent management company backed by Audacia.
France’s sovereign wealth chief has a warning for Europe: We’re being ‘doubly colonized’
The head of France’s state investment bank Bpifrance has painted a grim picture of Europe, saying the continent is caught between the world’s two largest economies and is unable to fund its own future-critical industries. Nicolas Dufourcq warned that Europe is being overcome by Chinese industry and U.S. technology and is accelerating its economic decline by exporting its savings.
Business
Alice & Bob to Hire 100 People, Nearly Doubles Its Current Workforce
Alice & Bob, a global leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, today announced plans to hire 100 new employees by mid-2026 to advance both technology development and business expansion. This workforce expansion follows the company’s successful €100 million ($117M) Series B funding round and the launch of a $50 million quantum laboratory in Paris, featuring a nanofabrication cleanroom for prototyping advanced quantum processing units (QPUs) alongside a large-scale test facility.
RIBER Secures U.S. Quantum Customer for ROSIE Platform
RIBER, a global market leader in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) equipment for the semiconductor industry, announces a new order for a ROSIE system from a new US-based customer specialized in quantum computing. This order represents a key milestone in the development of ROSIE, RIBER’s latest innovation. Fully automated and compatible with 300 mm silicon wafers, ROSIE is designed for the growth of thin oxide layers, particularly barium titanate (BTO), a strategic material for the development of integrated electro-optic modulators.
New Report Recommends Near-Term Strategies for HPC Centers to Prepare for Quantum Integration
Alice & Bob, a global leader in the race for fault-tolerant quantum computing, and Hyperion Research, the premier industry analysis and market intelligence firm for high performance computing (HPC), today announced the release of a joint report detailing how early fault-tolerant quantum computing (eFTQC) will accelerate solutions in critical HPC applications beyond classical supercomputing capabilities within the next five years.
Quobly Unveils New Governance Model With Key Executive Appointments
Quobly, a pioneer in quantum microelectronics announces key appointments to its leadership team to advance the execution of its strategic objectives. Tristan Meunier, co-founder, has been appointed Chief Innovation Officer, Jean-Charles Barbé joins as Chief Technology Officer, and Cyril Condemine as Chief Product Development Officer. Together with the broader leadership team, they strengthen Quobly’s capacity to align scientific progress with industrial development. This reinforced governance supports the company’s ambition to accelerate its growth and consolidate its position at the forefront of the European quantum ecosystem.
Research
Quantum Algorithms and Computing
Quantum computing will revolutionize how we compute in the coming years by dramatically increasing computing power. To support the development of quantum computers and the progress towards the several thousand entangled qubits required for this technological leap, Inria teams are already developing what are known as quantum algorithms which will make it possible to program these new types of machines.
Quantum cryptography integrating an optical quantum memory
French researchers at Sorbonne were among the scientists who helped demonstrate a cryptography protocol that uses an intermediate quantum memory layer, showcasing how optical quantum memories can support secure implementations of Wiesner’s quantum money primitive. Their experiment, which relied on polarization-encoded weak light states and a high-efficiency cold atom memory, highlights how storage and buffering extend the role of quantum memories beyond networks to broader quantum technologies.
Education and Events
Quantum Startups Driving Innovation at VivaTech
Quantum startups have become one of the primary engines pushing quantum innovation forward. Quantum startups are better positioned than legacy players to be agile, and because quantum technology is still at a somewhat early stage of development, these startups are helping define its future.
Rare-earth Ions for Quantum Information
This year the Rare-Earth Ions for Quantum Information Workshop will be held in Nice, from the 16th to the 18th of September 2025.
