Public support for quantum computing
SCALE
- SNQ 2021-2025: EUR 1.8bn planned, EUR 1.5bn public, EUR 1bn for quantum computing.
- EUR 597m committed by 31 December 2025, across 40 projects.
- PROQCIMA: framework contract with five start-ups, EUR 500m initial cap.
- PROQCIMA target: 128 logical qubits by 2032 (2,048 by 2035), revised May 2026 to 1,024 by 2032.
- QuanTEduFrance training programme: EUR 56.7m.
- 124 postdoctoral researchers and 255 doctoral theses funded 2021-2025 (ANR scope).
- 37 master's programmes, 13 of them quantum-specific: 1,061 students in 2024-25, 23 universities.
- May 2026: USD 2bn voted by the US Congress for nine companies; EUR 1bn more announced by France the next day.
COMPLIANCE
- SNQ steered by inter-ministerial governance, coordinated by the SGPI - which also manages the France 2030 budget programmes.
- PEPR research programme: EUR 142m, led by the CNRS, CEA and INRIA.
- Grants, repayable advances and equity channelled through the ANR (public research) and Bpifrance (companies).
- PROQCIMA public-procurement competition: EUR 500m among five firms.
- Smaller channels: regional subsidies, EU project calls, and the CIR, JEI and CII tax incentives.
- Cooperative audit with the Bundesrechnungshof; deliberated 20 May 2026, approved 2 June 2026.
ECONOMY
- Support to firms still weighted to grants rather than repayable advances.
- Cour would shift the mix toward advances and procurement, to push firms to consolidate.
- One specialised venture-capital fund in France: few domestic alternatives to public money.
EFFICIENCY
- Financing dispersed across France 2030, ANR, Bpifrance, regions, EU calls and tax credits.
- No consolidated view of the totals by origin or destination.
- The Cour itself had to estimate higher-education and research spending rather than consolidate it.
EFFECTIVENESS
- A decade of sustained investment, and the ecosystem is still dependent on public funds.
- Market for quantum computers too small to make the sector profitable on its own.
- Consolidation phase under way, with predation risk from better-funded foreign competitors.
- Strategic choice - funding level, and specialise / hub / dependency - not yet made.
1. Public support instruments favour grants over repayable advances, weakening firms' incentives to consolidate financially
Finance Guidance
The Cour recommends that, "in the support provided to the private sector, the weight of repayable advances relative to grants be increased, and greater use be made of public procurement through the PROQCIMA programme, in order to facilitate the consolidation of companies" (Recommendations, no.2, p.13). Firms' difficulty in raising private capital to scale up makes them vulnerable to being acquired by better-funded foreign actors, and only one specialised French venture-capital fund finances quantum technologies (Synthese, p.11).
- Domains: Technology, Capital investments
- Function: Finance, Strategy
- Quality: Cost control and value for money
2. Consolidated tracking of the many public funding channels for quantum computing remains incomplete
Data management Monitoring
The Cour recommends reinforcing "the consolidated monitoring of all financing, which is cross-cutting by nature, both in its destination and in its origin" (Recommendations, no.3, p.13). Consolidating the totality of financing allocated to quantum computing was hampered by spending dispersed across institutions managing their own funds, so the Cour could not collect and assess all higher-education and research spending within the time available and instead estimated these amounts from the main actors' feedback (Procedures and methods, p.6-7).
- Domains: Technology, Public finance
- Function: dataProcessing, monitoring
- Quality: Reliable, integrated information base
3. Most public funding for quantum computing is temporary, and France has yet to decide whether it will be secured beyond 2025-2030
Goal-setting Finance
Because its resources are limited, France will have to choose between three budgetary paths: maintaining current funding and securing it beyond 2025 or 2030, increasing the funds allocated to sustain the "war of attrition" underway, or redirecting resources toward other deeptech priorities and accepting a loss of sovereignty over the quantum computer (Synthese, p.12). Almost all of the EUR 1 billion committed to quantum computing under the 2021-2025 national quantum strategy comes from the time-limited France 2030 investment plan rather than a permanent budget line.
- Domains: Technology, Capital investments, Public finance
- Function: Strategy, Finance
- Quality: Sound risk management
4. Uncertainty over funding beyond 2027-2028 threatens the durability of the quantum training offer
Guidance Goal-setting
The Cour recommends that, "from the start of the 2027 academic year, the training offer be reinforced on the 'architecture', 'error correction' and software-stack components, as well as on the interface between classical computing and quantum computing" (Recommendations, no.4, p.13), noting that "uncertainty over part of the funding from the start of the 2028 academic year weighs on the durable adjustment of the training offer" (Synthese, p.11).
- Domains: Higher education, Science
- Function: training, Planning
- Quality: Adequate resources and competences
5. The domestic industrial ecosystem remains fragile and dependent on public funds because private investment is scarce
Finance Outlook
The French quantum-computing sector "also suffers from a deficit of private investment, as European private actors have a greater aversion to risk than their North American counterparts"; while public support was essential to launch the sector, "the amounts needed to move to the industrial phase now exceed the State's financial capacities", making the mobilisation of private financing a critical issue (Synthese, p.11).
- Domains: Technology, Capital investments
- Function: Finance, Strategy
- Quality: Sound risk management
6. No exhaustive, up-to-date monitoring of companies in the strategic quantum sector exists, despite sovereignty and predation risks
Monitoring Data management
The Cour recommends ensuring "exhaustive and up-to-date monitoring of companies in the strategic quantum sector, in coordination with the SGPI" (Recommendations, no.5, p.13), against a backdrop in which the sector's "phase of concentration, and sometimes of predation, of these companies has begun" (Synthese, p.11).
- Domains: Technology, Public finance
- Function: monitoring, dataProcessing
- Quality: Functioning oversight and governance
7. France has not yet made the strategic choice its quantum sovereignty objective requires
Goal-setting Guidance
Beyond the funding-level choice, France must also decide its strategic positioning - specialising in a particular segment as the Netherlands or Finland have done, positioning itself as a hub as the United Kingdom has chosen, or accepting technological dependency on a dominant foreign actor as several countries are doing with respect to the United States (Synthese, p.12); "any support will have to pursue a clearly identified strategic objective so that public financing devoted to the emergence of a sector is not captured by other powers" (Synthese, p.12). The Cour recommends building, by 2028, "targeted industrial partnerships at European scale, where appropriate with country specialisation" (Recommendations, no.6, p.13).
- Domains: Technology, Public finance
- Function: Strategy, Governance
- Quality: Clear objectives and goal-setting
Control focus
| ICS phase | Control function | Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Uncategorised | Finance | 1. Public support instruments favour grants over repayable advances, weakening firms' incentives to consolidate financially<br/>3. Most public funding for quantum computing is temporary, and France has yet to decide whether it will be secured beyond 2025-2030<br/>5. The domestic industrial ecosystem remains fragile and dependent on public funds because private investment is scarce |
| Outlook | 5. The domestic industrial ecosystem remains fragile and dependent on public funds because private investment is scarce | |
| Initial phase | Guidance | 1. Public support instruments favour grants over repayable advances, weakening firms' incentives to consolidate financially<br/>4. Uncertainty over funding beyond 2027-2028 threatens the durability of the quantum training offer<br/>7. France has not yet made the strategic choice its quantum sovereignty objective requires |
| Goal-setting | 3. Most public funding for quantum computing is temporary, and France has yet to decide whether it will be secured beyond 2025-2030<br/>4. Uncertainty over funding beyond 2027-2028 threatens the durability of the quantum training offer<br/>7. France has not yet made the strategic choice its quantum sovereignty objective requires | |
| Organic elements of a process | Data management | 2. Consolidated tracking of the many public funding channels for quantum computing remains incomplete<br/>6. No exhaustive, up-to-date monitoring of companies in the strategic quantum sector exists, despite sovereignty and predation risks |
| Work processes | Monitoring | 2. Consolidated tracking of the many public funding channels for quantum computing remains incomplete<br/>6. No exhaustive, up-to-date monitoring of companies in the strategic quantum sector exists, despite sovereignty and predation risks |