October 2025: French Quantum Momentum Quickens ‘Plan Quantique’ through Hardware Delivery and Industry-Scale Manufacturing
France’s National Quantum Strategy, or Plan Quantique, saw strong expansion and strategic implementation in October 2025. Important developments in industrial-scale chip manufacturing, noteworthy hardware delivery milestones, and a greater integration of French quantum capabilities into the larger European ecosystem were the month’s highlights. These advancements solidify the country’s aspirational objective of being one of the top three quantum powers globally by the end of the decade.
Hardware: A New Computing Node in Europe
The month’s most concrete success story was Quandela, the leader in photonic quantum computing from France. Quandela announced the successful delivery of Lucy, a 12-qubit universal digital photonic quantum computer, to the CEA’s Très Grand Centre de computation (TGCC) in partnership with GENCI.
This is not just a scientific accomplishment; it is a significant strategic advantage for Europe and France. Lucy, which was purchased by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) as part of the EuroQCS-France collaboration, is the most potent photonic quantum computer used in a European computing centre at the moment.
Particularly connected to the Joliot-Curie supercomputer, the device will be closely integrated with the TGCC’s high-performance computing (HPC) environment. This hybrid architecture is the state-of-the-art in quantum deployment, fusing state-of-the-art quantum acceleration with traditional HPC power. Through the provision of this system to academic and industrial users in France and Europe, the effort would expedite early quantum adoption in critical domains such as advanced materials design for aerospace, energy grid optimisation, risk modelling in finance, and logistics.
The system, which was successfully deployed by Quandela and assembled in about a year, also demonstrates the development of a European quantum supply chain by using German cryogenic modules and quantum devices produced at Quandela’s own semiconductor pilot line in Palaiseau, France.
The Race for Fault Tolerance: Manufacturing Cat Qubits
In addition to photonic hardware achievements, French startup Alice & Bob, a leader in the global race for fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC), reported a significant breakthrough towards the industrialisation of their proprietary “Cat Qubit” technology.
With assistance from the Defence Innovation Agency (AID) of the French government, the company announced the delivery of cutting-edge technology for fabricating quantum chips in collaboration with thin-film deposition expert PLASSYS-BESTEK. The goal of this new machinery is to create scalable quantum chips, which will move the emphasis from lab-scale prototypes to industrial-grade manufacturing, which is essential for creating large-scale, error-corrected quantum computers.
In order to significantly lower the hardware overhead needed for FTQC, Alice & Bob’s Cat Qubits are intended to exponentially suppress the primary source of error in superconducting circuits. Controlling and industrialising the production of these specialised chips is a key component of the PROQCIMA program, which is the French roadmap aiming to create two universal quantum computer prototypes with 128 logical qubits by 2030.
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Alice & Bob further solidified its industrial significance by joining NVIDIA’s NVQLink program, which aims to promote fault-tolerant hybrid computing by guaranteeing that their innovative Cat Qubit architecture blends in smoothly with NVIDIA’s accelerated classical computing ecosystem. The French ambition to use international collaborations to build disruptive, sovereign hardware is highlighted by this cooperative approach.
Fortifying the Quantum Ecosystem and Internet
The underlying layers of the quantum ecosystem witnessed substantial activity in October, with a particular emphasis on communications and industry standards, in addition to the news-grabbing computing gear.
Key French technological pioneers QphoX and Welinq, along with Sorbonne University, announced the launch of Meet-Q in the field of quantum networking. Realising optical quantum interconnects—the essential elements required to allow hybrid, scalable quantum networks—is the main goal of this new collaborative effort. This partnership puts French research at the forefront of a worldwide challenge: scaling up future quantum systems requires the capacity to successfully link multiple types of quantum processors (e.g., photonic and superconducting).
With the ETSI Board’s acceptance of the establishment of a new Technical Committee on Quantum Technologies (TC QT), France’s influence in the European quantum landscape was demonstrated on the policy front. Supporting the EuroQCI program directly, this entity will play a key role in creating the standards and specifications for quantum networks and communications throughout Europe. French professionals are anticipated to take the lead in establishing the worldwide framework for safe, quantum-based global communication networks.
The Flow of Innovation and Investment
Additionally, the month brought attention to the ongoing entrepreneurial activity in the French economy. Isentroniq, a startup addressing one of the most enduring hardware barriers in quantum computing: cryogenic wire, has announced pre-seed funding, demonstrating the Paris-Saclay cluster’s continued ability to produce deep-tech innovation. In order to tackle a significant technical barrier for future industrial deployment, Isentroniq focusses on components that minimise heat and space consumption as quantum systems scale.
To sum up, October 2025 showed how the Plan Quantique was moving from funding only for research to measurable industrial execution. France is aggressively constructing the industrial capacity and infrastructure necessary to lead the quantum era, with its own hardware being supplied to significant supercomputing hubs in Europe and a clear plan for growing chip production.
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