French quantum sector update: Quobly, Alice & Bob, Quandela, Pasqal and more in September

[IronQuarry98]

The Quantum Insider has published its round up of the French quantum sector for September, and it is a busy month. It pulls together a lot of the threads we have discussed lately, including Pasqal leaving the defence programme and Quandela's spin-photon interface work. France is building a serious quantum ecosystem. Here are the highlights

Quobly, which works on silicon spin qubits, showed qubit readout and single and two qubit operations on chips made at STMicroelectronics' 300mm plant in Crolles. That is a big deal because it uses standard chip manufacturing. It also expanded work with CEA-Leti, signed a memorandum with Orange Quantum Systems on testing at scale and partnered with Absolut System on cryogenic equipment

Alice & Bob is working with the CEA on software to link quantum processors with traditional supercomputers, avoiding reliance on a single software ecosystem. Quandela published a white paper on using its photonic processors alongside Nvidia hardware, is exploring manufacturing with Samsung and SK Hynix, signed a partnership with Vietnam's Quanova and joined Canada's Quantum Computing Sandbox as its first photonic platform

Pasqal reported revenue of €4.9 million for the first half of 2026, up 14 percent, with QPU related services up 34 percent to €3.9 million. It booked €70.4 million in business but posted an operating loss of €59.2 million, and has €110.8 million in cash. It also reached 1,024 atom registers and integrated with Nvidia's CUDA-Q. On the defence side, Thales, Bull and the CEA are working on a sovereign quantum software platform called Aliquante, and C12 and Thales won an award for a quantum radar tracking system

Physicist Jacqueline Bloch also received the CNRS Gold Medal for her work on polaritons. It is striking how many French companies are making progress at once. Do you think France can become Europe's quantum leader, and should the UK be worried?

French National Quantum Update: September 2026thequantuminsider.com

[EdgeNode Joel]

Congratulations to Jacqueline Bloch. Polariton research is not flashy, but it underpins a lot of future quantum and photonic technology. Good to see fundamental science recognised alongside the startups