The global race for technological dominance has officially moved to the next frontier. While public attention is still focused on artificial intelligence, the governments of the world’s superpowers are beginning to invest massively in quantum computers, viewing them as a key element of future economic and military sovereignty.
French President Emmanuel Macron has just announced an additional €1 billion for a national quantum strategy and €550 million to support the microelectronics sector. Paris is openly declaring that it has the resources necessary to win this competition. This decision coincided with Washington’s actions. Donald Trump’s administration has unveiled plans to acquire a two-billion-dollar stake in nine quantum computing companies to secure US leadership in the new technological field.
The increased interest in the quantum sector is no coincidence. Recent engineering breakthroughs clearly show that these machines can radically accelerate processes in such strategic areas as cryptography, financial modelling or drug discovery. This makes computing infrastructure a cornerstone of the modern economy. As Théau Peronnin, CEO of Paris-based Alice & Bob, points out, it is public funding that builds national market leaders and forces the private sector to deliver concrete solutions faster.
The example of Alice & Bob perfectly illustrates how state interests and global private capital are intertwined. The startup is one of the beneficiaries of the new French PROQCIMA programme, led by the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which aims to prepare for the industrialisation of two universal quantum computers by 2032. At the same time, the company has attracted the attention of Silicon Valley. NVentures, the venture capital arm of Nvidia, has invested in Alice & Bob to accelerate the development of next-generation hardware, which is expected to be significantly less prone to computational errors.
Quantum computers are ceasing to be the domain of academic labs and are becoming a key part of the competition for technological independence. The combination of state subsidies and capital from giants such as Nvidia suggests that the future of the industry will be based on hybrid models, with the advantage going to the countries quickest to turn science into a finished industrial product.
