Executive Summary
France’s quantum sector moved further into a deployment-focused phase in June 2026, with policy, infrastructure and commercial activity increasingly tied to national security, high-performance computing and post-quantum cybersecurity. The world took notice as France’s cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, said it will stop certifying security products that do not include quantum-resistant encryption beginning in 2027. The policy would push government agencies and critical infrastructure operators away from conventional cryptographic systems and sharpen France’s role as one of Europe’s most assertive governments on post-quantum migration.
Public infrastructure also remained central to the country’s strategy. Following the second phase of France’s National Quantum Strategy, GENCI and Alice & Bob signed an agreement for France to acquire an 18-cat-qubit quantum computer for national research infrastructure. The purchase marks a concrete step toward placing domestic quantum hardware inside France’s public computing ecosystem and reflects the government’s broader effort to connect quantum development with sovereign research and industrial capacity.
Commercial momentum was led by Alice & Bob and Quandela. Alice & Bob unveiled its Helium Quantum System, expanded its work with Bull on quantum-HPC integration, and was selected for the French Tech Next40 for the second consecutive year. Quandela reported progress on low-latency integration of photonic quantum processors with NVIDIA NVQLink and deepened its international deployment push through a partnership with Qatar’s Mekdam Holding Group. Pasqal also continued to prepare for a more public-market-facing phase, appointing Stéphane Rougeot as chief financial officer as it advances its planned business combination. Earlier in June, Quobly announced the closing of a €115 million Series A financing.
International coordination widened on several fronts. Canada and France signed a joint statement on quantum science and technology cooperation during the 2026 G7 Digital Ministers’ Meeting, while French companies continued to build relationships across Europe, the Gulf region and the United States. Quandela’s selection for Stage A of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative also underscored the growing role of French startups in global assessments of utility-scale quantum computing.
Ecosystem-building remained active through France Quantum 2026, which brought together researchers, startups, enterprise buyers, defense officials and investors. The event highlighted a sector moving from publicly supported research toward capital-market competition, with post-quantum cybersecurity deadlines giving France’s quantum agenda a sharper industrial and national-security frame.
This is a non-exhaustive list of some of the news that affected France’s quantum community in June 2026.
Policy
France Says It Will Won’t Certify Security Products That Aren’t Quantum-Resistent Starting in 2027
France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, will stop certifying security products that do not include quantum-resistant encryption beginning in 2027, a policy that will effectively require government agencies and operators of critical infrastructure to move away from traditional cryptographic systems, according to comments made at the France Quantum conference and reported by Reuters.
The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and Anne Le Hénanff, France’s Minister Delegate with responsibility for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, signed a joint statement on quantum science and technologies cooperation during the 2026 G7 Digital Ministers’ Meeting in France. Together, Canada and France are committed to deepening cooperation in quantum research and development, grounded in shared values of openness, accountability and research excellence.
Business
France Acquires Alice & Bob Cat-Qubit Quantum Computer for National Research Infrastructure
Following the announcements made by the President of the French Republic on 22 May at the CEA’s Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC) regarding the second phase of France’s National Quantum Strategy (SNQ), GENCI (Grand Équipement National de Calcul Intensif) and French quantum computing company Alice & Bob signed an agreement at VivaTech on 17 June, in the presence of representatives of the French government, for France’s acquisition of an 18-cat-qubit quantum computer.
Quobly secures €115 million Series A to bring silicon-based quantum computers to market
Quobly, a French quantum computing company, announced the closing of a €115 million Series A financing to accelerate the industrialization of its silicon-based quantum computers and bring its first commercial product to market by the end of 2026.
Welinq and OVHCloud Partner on Networked Quantum Computing Architectures
European leader in the cloud and co-founding member of France Quantum, is participating in the fifth edition of the event. With more than 1,500 visitors and 60 speakers, France Quantum 2026 brings together European specialists in quantum computing for a day of conferences and discussions to take stock of the latest technological advances and their use cases. Octave Klaba, founder and CEO of OVHcloud, will be on stage to discuss advances in the quantum ecosystem and announce developments in OVHcloud.
Quandela Validates Low-Latency Photonic QPU Integration with NVIDIA NVQLink
Quandela today announced that it has experimentally validated a low-latency integration path between photonic quantum processors and NVIDIA AI infrastructure, marking an important milestone toward bringing quantum processing units directly into high-performance computing environments. Results presented at ISC 2026 demonstrate a path toward accelerator-style integration of photonic quantum processors in GPU-driven HPC environments.
SEALSQ targets European post-quantum security market after France mandate
SEALSQ Corp (NASDAQ:LAES) announced that France’s cybersecurity agency ANSSI will cease certifying security products without quantum-resistant encryption from 2027, according to a press release statement.
Bull and Alice & Bob Partner up to Bring Quantum Computers into HPC
Bull, a leader in advanced computing and AI, and Alice & Bob, a leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing specialising in cat qubits, today announce the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding to extend their joint collaboration across research, product innovation and commercialisation. Together, Bull and Alice & Bob now aim to deepen this collaboration to accelerate the development and adoption of quantum technologies in Europe and beyond.
C12 Introduces Nanoassembly Process for Carbon Nanotube Quantum Chips
C12, a Paris-based quantum computing company developing carbon nanotube spin qubit processors, today announced its proprietary Pick & Place nanoassembly technology: a custom-built, patented nanoassembly method developed entirely in-house to transfer individual carbon nanotubes onto silicon chips with micrometric precision, in controlled vacuum or inert atmosphere conditions. Two setups are now operational in C12’s Paris laboratory.
Signed this Thursday during Vision Golfe – the Franco-Gulf economic forum organized by Business France under the high patronage of the French President, at the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty – this partnership marks Mekdam’s entry into quantum computing and strengthens Quandela’s presence in Qatar and strategic Middle Eastern markets.
Alice & Bob Unveils First Quantum System, Helium
Alice & Bob, a leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, today unveiled the Helium Quantum System, marking the expansion from developing cat-qubit chips to delivering a complete quantum computing system for on-premise deployment.
Alice & Bob selected for the French Tech Next40
Alice & Bob, a leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, has been selected to join the French Tech Next40 for the second year in a row. The program selects 40 French scale-ups each year that best embody technological excellence in service of the public interest while contributing to economic growth.
Pasqal Appoints Stéphane Rougeot as Chief Financial Officer
Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced the appointment of Stéphane Rougeot as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Rougeot — a finance leader who has served as CFO of multiple publicly-listed European technology companies — will oversee Pasqal’s global finance organization as it scales the commercial deployment of its quantum systems and prepares to enter the public markets through its previously-announced business combination with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: BBCQ).
Research
DARPA Selects Quandela For Stage A of The Quantum Benchmarking Initiative
Quandela today announced it has been selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to participate in Stage A of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a multi-stage program designed to assess whether any quantum computing architecture can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033.
Education and Events
France Quantum 2026 Opens at Station F
France’s annual quantum computing summit — the most expansive in its five-year history — opened Tuesday morning at Station F in Paris, convening researchers, startup founders, enterprise buyers, defense officials, and investors at the moment the country’s quantum industry transitions from government-funded research into capital-market competition. The hardware race on display at France Quantum 2026 is not merely a race for industrial capability: it is a countdown clock. Every day closer to a fault-tolerant quantum computer is a day closer to the point at which the encryption protecting today’s financial records, medical data, and government communications becomes retroactively vulnerable. France’s 2030 mandate for post-quantum cryptography adoption across critical infrastructure gives the hardware competition an explicit deadline that no other major European country has yet matched.
