Historical programming period — scheme no longer open to new applications
Quandela: how France 2030 supported the birth of Europe's first quantum computer factory
Île-de-France
From fundamental research to industrialization, then to internationalization: how a French deeptech company turned a laboratory technology into an industrial product, successively mobilizing France 2030, private investors and institutional orders.
Funding obtained
€9,500,000
Instrument
Grant
The company
Quandela is a French company founded in 2017, based in Massy (Essonne), specialized in developing quantum computers that use photons — particles of light — as the carrier of quantum information.
Emerging from research work carried out notably at the CNRS, the company develops a complete architecture: photonic components, quantum processors, programming software and access to the machines via the cloud. Its ambition is to make quantum computing accessible to researchers and industrial players, to explore new computing capabilities (molecular simulation, optimization, complex industrial problems).
But moving from a laboratory prototype to a marketable quantum computer requires substantial investment: production equipment, a cleanroom, semiconductor components, engineering, recruitment and business development. It is this scale-up that public funding has helped support.
The initial need
Quandela needed to turn a research and prototyping capability into a genuine industrial organization capable of manufacturing several quantum computers, then to finance its commercial and international growth once the industrial proof had been established.
- Build a first factory for manufacturing quantum computers.
- Develop a cleanroom for manufacturing semiconductor components (photonic qubits).
- Finance the ramp-up of production and the diversification of investors.
- Accelerate commercial expansion in North America and Asia.
The funded project
On 20 June 2023, Quandela inaugurated its first quantum computer manufacturing factory in Massy. The event marked the shift from prototype design and research to a first industrial organization capable of manufacturing several machines. The factory is equipped to assemble quantum computers and carry out the quality checks required for their production.
At the same time, Quandela is developing a cleanroom on the Saclay plateau, intended for manufacturing the semiconductor components used to generate photonic qubits.
Quandela is a winner of the Première Usine call for projects, a France 2030 scheme operated by Bpifrance. At the inauguration, the public support announced to support the company's development reached €9.5M. Bpifrance notes that the company had benefited from eight interventions from its funding ecosystem since its early days, as the project progressed from the laboratory to industrialization — illustrating the deeptech continuum principle.
A few months later, on 7 November 2023, Quandela announced it had secured €50M from investors, the French state and financial partners: existing investors (Bpifrance, OMNES Capital, Quantonation) and new investors (Serena, Crédit Mutuel Innovation, the European Innovation Council Fund). This mixed transaction (equity and debt, according to specialized press) is intended to continue industrialization, increase production capacity and accelerate international expansion. The €50M does not constitute a public France 2030 grant: it is a mixed financing operation, and the EIC Fund's equity stake is an investment, distinct from an EIC Accelerator grant.
- Quantum computer manufacturing and assembly factory (Massy).
- Cleanroom for manufacturing semiconductor components (Saclay plateau).
- Production ramp-up and development of new generations of machines (Belenos, then Canopus, Deneb, Diadem).
Funding plan
Public funding
€9,500,000
Other known funding
€50,000,000
The €9.5M corresponds to the France 2030 public support (Première Usine, operated by Bpifrance) announced at the factory's inauguration in June 2023, without a full breakdown by instrument. The €50M (November 2023) is a separate mixed financing operation — equity investors, public support and financial partners — and must not be added to the €9.5M as if it were a single grant. One press source (Le Monde Informatique) suggests that about €10M of this €50M came from the state via France 2030, but this figure is not confirmed by Bpifrance's own press release.
The scheme used
France 2030 — Première Usine call for projects, operated by Bpifrance (€9.5M grant announced in June 2023). Then a mixed €50M funding round (November 2023) involving Bpifrance, OMNES Capital, Quantonation, Serena, Crédit Mutuel Innovation and the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund — an equity stake, not a grant).
Results and outcomes
- Achieved
In November 2023, Bpifrance announced that the first quantum computer manufactured at the Massy factory had been delivered to an OVHcloud data center — the first industrial commercialization of a Quandela machine, beyond simple cloud access. The company then announced the start of production of three new machines, intended for delivery in 2024, and is working on use cases with EDF, MBDA and ONERA.
2023-11-07 — source
- Achieved
On 22 May 2025, Quandela launched Belenos, a 12-physical-qubit photonic quantum computer, accessible via its cloud platform. Belenos should not be confused with Lucy, a separate machine delivered to a different customer.
2025-05-22 — source
- Achieved
On 23 October 2025, Quandela, GENCI and the CEA announced the delivery of Lucy, a 12-qubit photonic quantum computer, to the CEA's Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC) in Bruyères-le-Châtel. The machine was acquired by the European joint undertaking EuroHPC as part of the EuroQCS-France consortium (led by GENCI, with the CEA and European partners). The French portion of this acquisition is supported by the Secrétariat général pour l'investissement through France 2030, as part of the national quantum strategy.
2025-10-23 — source
- Achieved
On 23 June 2026, Quandela announced it had experimentally validated a low-latency integration architecture between its photonic quantum processors and NVIDIA's accelerated computing infrastructure (NVQLink), to enable quantum processors to operate alongside GPUs in hybrid high-performance computing infrastructures.
2026-06-23 — source
Results are distinguished by nature (achieved, stated objective, forecast, estimate) — never presented as certain without this distinction.
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Sources and transparency
- Bpifrance — Quandela opens its first quantum computer factory (26/06/2023) — Bpifrance
Confirms the factory's inauguration, the €9.5M Première Usine grant and Quandela's successive funding journey.
- Bpifrance — Quandela secures €50M to support its international expansion (07/11/2023) — Bpifrance
Confirms the €50M funding round, the existing and new investors, and the delivery of the first machine manufactured in Massy to OVHcloud.
- Quandela — Belenos, the world's most powerful photonic quantum computer — Quandela
Confirms the launch of Belenos (22/05/2025) and its technical characteristics.
- GENCI — Quandela delivers Lucy to EuroHPC and GENCI, at the CEA's TGCC — GENCI
Confirms the delivery of Lucy to the CEA's TGCC (23/10/2025), the EuroQCS-France consortium and France 2030 support for the French portion.
- The Quantum Insider — Quandela Validates Low-Latency Photonic QPU Integration with NVIDIA — The Quantum Insider
Confirms the 23/06/2026 announcement on experimental integration with NVIDIA infrastructure (NVQLink).
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