France's CEA, Alice & Bob partner on quantum-supercomputing software
Transmission chips assembled by Bull during a visit by France's President to the European Forum on Computing Power, Quantum Sciences and Technologies, and Semiconductors at the Very Large Computing Centre of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Bruyeres-le-Chatel, south of Paris on May 22, 2026. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
Sept 17 : France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and quantum startup Alice & Bob said on Thursday they would develop software linking quantum processors with traditional supercomputers, arguing the industry should avoid the kind of dependence on a single software ecosystem that helped cement Nvidia's dominance in artificial intelligence.
They will seek to improve the largely open-source Qaptiva software developed by state-owned supercomputer maker Bull, aiming to broaden the range of tools available to quantum developers alongside Nvidia's CUDA-Q.
Executives at CEA told Reuters that having multiple software frameworks alongside Nvidia's CUDA-Q would help avoid the kind of software bottleneck that developed around CUDA in artificial intelligence.
Alice & Bob said software is the part of quantum computing that makes the technology usable. "The more alternatives there are, the faster the whole field moves," Alice & Bob US General Manager Juliette Peyronnet said.
CEA, a research centre with an annual budget of nearly €6 billion ($6.9 billion) that notably oversees France's nuclear deterrent, said the programme aimed to boost the domestic quantum industry by becoming an early customer for French startups and granting them access to its computing facilities.
The aim is to link conventional supercomputers and quantum processors, assigning the quantum machine only the parts of a problem for which it may eventually offer an advantage.
CEA has already installed quantum computers from French companies Quandela and Pasqal alongside its classical supercomputer and will add Alice & Bob's in 2027.
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