San Francisco Frontiers - France announces billion-euro boost for quantum computing

Several governments are racing to master quantum computing, a nascent technology that promises to solve some types of mathematical problems many times faster than "classical" machines.

Its potential applications range from enabling breakthroughs in drug development and materials science, to cracking encryption techniques widely used in computer security.

"The speed of our competitors requires that we shift into a higher gear" and "change the scale" of investment, Macron said during a visit to a supercomputing centre in Bruyeres-le-Chatel, south of Paris.

He pointed especially to developments in the United States, where companies have boosted quantum investments.

The Commerce Department in Washington on Friday announced injections of public cash totalling over $2.0 billion into private quantum firms.

France had already committed 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of funding for quantum research since 2021, including in its heavyweight defence industry.

Macron also announced a further 550 million euros in state funding for semiconductors as part of a European programme, on top of existing commitments of 5.5 billion since 2022.

"In all of these questions, there's a battle over sovereignty that is being fought and must absolutely be won... technological dependencies will more and more become industrial and strategic dependencies," Macron said.

Separately, American chip giant Nvidia announced Friday an investment into the French quantum computing start-up Alice and Bob.

Macron underscored the importance of European states working together on next-generation computing technologies, calling for the bloc to build a quantum ecosystem "designed, built and operated by European companies, free from any legislation with extra-territorial reach".

- 'EU that invests massively more' -

The remark comes as European capitals scramble to find cloud computing and artificial intelligence providers without exposure to the United States, as tensions remain high with Donald Trump's White House.

Macron argued that building up such domestic capacities in Europe required changes to both competition policy -- which he said needed to be "adapted and modernised to allow champions to emerge" -- and the bloc's single market.

"What is the strength of the Americans? They have an integrated market. They have actors at continental scale who make massive investments. We create regulations for the banks and insurers... preventing them from financing innovation," he said.

As well as greater freedoms for private investment, "everything we're talking about today requires a European Union that invests massively more", Macron added.

He is gearing up to fight for an expanded EU budget for 2028-34, proposals likely to meet resistence from countries like Germany that are averse to taking on common debt.

The French leader is also an outspoken proponent of "buy European" rules for public procurement.

Hobbled by a divided parliament at home and with just a year left in his second five-year term, after which he cannot stand for re-election, Macron has made a hobby horse of European sovereignty in fields from defence to research and the economy.

He will welcome prospective foreign investors to the opulent Palace of Versailles outside Paris on June 1 for the annual Choose France business conference.

And with France this year hosting meetings of the G7 club of leading industrial nations, ministers responsible for digital affairs will gather in Paris on May 29.

G7 heads of state will meet in Evian in the French Alps in mid-June.

N.Wilson--SFF