“The current race is to develop a ‘scalable’ qubit platform,” summarised Jason Lynch on Wednesday 10 June, speaking at Nexus Luxembourg. Behind this technical phrase lies the future of quantum computing. Qubits, the quantum equivalents of traditional computer bits, form the heart of future machines. Several competing technologies are now seeking to make them stable and numerous enough to yield a tangible industrial advantage.
The head of Equal1 believes that Europe still has a real card to play, whilst the EU invested €1.2bn last year in these technologies, compared with $8bn on the US side. He specifically mentions the French firm Pasqal and the Finnish firm IQM, two companies that are expected to go public this year. “I don’t think there’s a clear winner yet,” he says, referring to a market where several technological approaches could coexist.
According to him, the sector’s first battle has already been won: convincing investors and industry leaders that quantum computing was not just a theoretical promise. “Seven years ago, people were still wondering whether quantum computing was real,” he recalls. Since then, the ecosystem has demonstrated that it is possible to produce qubits, increase their number and identify algorithms likely to lead to applications in drug discovery, optimisation and certain complex calculations.
Scaling up to industrial scale
Jason Lynch also praises the role played by European funding. “The European Union has done a fantastic job so far,” he says, citing in particular funding from the EIC Accelerator, European venture capital funds and support from national governments. However, he believes that the sector is now entering a much more financially demanding phase: that of scaling up to industrial level.
The stakes are enormous. Equal1 is currently developing quantum computers that can be integrated into formats similar to those of traditional servers. The company currently has one machine installed and could soon scale up to two operational systems. Unlike some competitors, who are directly targeting massive fault-tolerant architectures, the Irish firm favours a gradual ramp-up with machines that can be deployed more quickly.
We’re building the bridge whilst driving across it at 100 miles an hour.
“Quantum computing is probably one of the most complex engineering challenges in the world today,” explains Jason Lynch. The difficulty stems in particular from the extreme fragility of qubits, which must be controlled with extreme precision. The ultimate goal remains to reach one million qubits capable of generating real economic value.
Bringing together disciplines that are still too separate
But for the executive, the challenge is not solely technological. It also concerns the organisational structure of these hybrid companies, which bring together physicists, hardware engineers and software developers. “We’re building the bridge whilst driving over it at 100 miles an hour,” he sums up. In his view, the ability to create “a common language” between these very different disciplines could become a key factor in success.
Another distinctive feature of the sector lies in the scale of the investment required. Jason Lynch suggests that some market players will need “billions” of euros. Equal1 believes, however, that it can limit its funding requirements to around €400-450m thanks to a strategy based on existing processes in the semiconductor industry. “We don’t need to develop the entire manufacturing process,” he emphasises. The company has already raised around €100m in a combination of private equity and public funding.
This approach aims to capitalise on 50 years of development in the silicon industry and on Moore’s Law [formulated in 1965 by Gordon Moore, it states that the number of transistors on a microprocessor roughly doubles every two years, ed.]. The aim: to avoid having to build an entirely new industrial infrastructure to produce future large-scale quantum processors.
This discussion makes one thing clear: after years of fundamental research, European quantum computing is now entering a phase of industrial consolidation. And the issue is no longer merely scientific. It has become strategic, financial and geopolitical.
