A 12-qubit photonic quantum computer dubbed Lucy has been integrated with the Joliot-Curie supercomputer at France’s CEA’s Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC).

Set to come online in the coming weeks, Lucy is reportedly the most powerful photonic quantum computer ever deployed in Europe.

The system was procured by the EuroQCS-France consortium under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), 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.

Installed in October 2025, Lucy is the second quantum computer to be integrated into TGCC’s supercomputing environment, following the deployment of the Quandela-manufactured Belenos system in May of that same year.

Once up and running, Lucy will be made accessible to European users to support applications such as energy grid optimization, risk modeling, logistics and supply chain management, and aerospace design.

“With Lucy, the CEA is once again demonstrating a concrete translation of its long-standing commitment to quantum computing,” said Anne-Isabelle Etienvre, administrator general of the CEA. “From the first qubits developed by our fundamental research teams – an excellence recently recognized at the highest level – to the exploration of connecting quantum machines with classical supercomputers at the TGCC, we are demonstrating the contribution of our integrated research model, from fundamental to applied.

“This continuity allows us to transform a technological breakthrough into a sovereign tool. Lucy is now at the service of research teams as well as the entire European scientific and industrial ecosystem to explore new horizons of computing.”

Niccolo Somaschi, co-founder and CEO of Quandela, added: “This project is also the result of close cooperation with our German partner Attocube and fully embodies the Franco-German dynamic in service of European technological sovereignty. This inauguration demonstrates that cutting-edge quantum technologies, designed and produced in Europe, can already be integrated into the most advanced computing infrastructures to address high-impact scientific and industrial use cases.”

Founded in 2017, Paris-based Quandela unveiled its two-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.

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.”