A 12-qubit photonic quantum computer dubbed Lucy has been installed at the CEA’s Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC) in France.

The system was procured by the EuroQCS-France consortium, under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, and delivered by French quantum startup Quandela, in partnership with CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and GENCI, the French national HPC agency.

Lucy is the most powerful photonic quantum computer ever deployed in Europe, Quandela said in a statement, noting that the system will be coupled with the Joliot-Curie supercomputer, also housed at CEA’s TGCC.

It is also the second QPU to be integrated into TGCC’s supercomputing environment – in May 2025, Quandela unveiled another 12-qubit photonic quantum computer named Belenos. Lucy will be made accessible to European users from 2026 to support applications such as energy grid optimization, risk modeling, logistics and supply chain management, and aerospace design.

“The delivery of Lucy is not just a new milestone – it is a key building block for Europe’s hybrid computing future,” said Niccolo Somaschi, Quandela co-founder and CEO. “By providing this capability to a broad community of European researchers and industrial users, we are empowering them to explore new frontiers in simulation, optimization, and machine learning. This achievement strengthens Europe’s technological sovereignty and demonstrates the power of cross-border collaboration to shape the next generation of computing.”

Jean-Philippe Verger, director of the CEA DAM Ile de France center, added: “This milestone is a new step on the road to Fault Tolerant Quantum Hybrid Computing. It marks the progress of the HQI platform, entrusted to the CEA as part of France’s national quantum strategy. The Lucy machine integrates into the shared HPC and quantum computing environment of the TGCC, bringing a rapidly advancing photonic-qubit technology with strong future potential.”

Founded in 2017, Paris-based Quandela unveiled its 2-qubit MosaiQ photonic quantum computer in 2022. That system was supercooled to up to -265°C (-445°F) but used beams of light and photonics principles to run quantum applications, meaning it avoided the need for cryogenic supercooling and could therefore slot into a standard 19” rack system.

French data center firm OVHcloud purchased a MosaiQ quantum computer in March 2023, which it deployed from its data center in Croix, France.

In September 2024, DCD exclusively reported that GENCI is set to retire its Joliot-Curie supercomputer once its Alice Recoque exascale machine comes online.

According to the tender documents for the upcoming Alice Recoque system, the EuroHPC JU states that GENCI will couple “two experimental hybrid quantum computing partitions” with Alice Recoque, “replacing Joliot-Curie… thereby enabling a hybrid HPC/QC service for European communities and facilitating new applications.”