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C12 puts its carbon qubits in Classiq to seduce 'quantum developers' The French start-up C12 announces a partnership with quantum development software publisher Classiq to participate in the democratization of this field. All in an evolving world, but one that is entering the preparation phase for future uses. C12, one of France's specialists in quantum processors, and Classiq, publisher of a software platform dedicated to quantum computing, have formalized a partnership. Their alliance will attempt to make hardware (based on carbon nanotubes at C12) more accessible to developers. The overall objective - claimed by both players - is to accelerate the adoption of these technologies by companies and research centers. One of the best quantum compilers in the world. Concretely, the agreement will allow integration of C12's emulator (Callisto) into Classiq's Integrated Development Environment. Callisto reproduces the physical parameters and real noise of the architecture developed by the start-up (based on spin qubits in carbon nanotubes). While waiting for C12's chips to mature, it allows running quantum algorithms involving up to 13 qubits on classical processors. 'The interest of the partnership is to connect [our] emulator to a high-level software platform, used by developers and industrial players to design and compile [...] large-scale quantum algorithms,' deciphers Pierre Desjardins, CEO and co-founder of C12, for Le MagIT. 'Classiq has developed one of the best compilers in the world for quantum computing,' he continues. Now the compiler is one of the keys that can change the status of quantum computers. 'It's what transforms abstract algorithms into instructions executable by hardware. It's also what optimizes qubit utilization and error management,' explains the expert who studied at École Polytechnique, Columbia and MIT. Implicitly, it's also about C12 existing in Classiq's ecosystem as a 'backend provider' alongside big names like IBM, AWS, Microsoft, Google or NVIDIA. There are 'quantum developers' and 'quantum developers' The target of this strategy is what should now be called the 'quantum developer' (even if it's established that one can simultaneously determine the position and velocity of this developer). 'This market remains relatively limited, but it's evolving rapidly,' observes Pierre Desjardins. This community would, in fact, be driven by two 'complementary dynamics.' The first is 'an expert community, coming from academia and R&D, which already masters quantum concepts.' The second is 'a broader population of developers, engineers or data scientists, who are interested in quantum with increasingly abstract and accessible tools (note: including Classiq),' compares Pierre Desjardins. 'The challenge is therefore not only the current number of quantum developers, but the democratization of access [to these technologies],' he summarizes. Platforms like Classiq play an important role in this project since they allow non-specialists to design and test quantum algorithms without having to dive into qubits. The active preparation phase for future uses. This partnership around democratization occurs in a world that is certainly promising, but still in its early stages. 'Quantum computing is not yet ready to solve large-scale industrial production problems on its own,' concedes Pierre Desjardins. 'But it has entered an active preparation phase for these uses,' he immediately adds. 'The subject is no longer "will quantum work someday?", but rather how to prepare now the architectures, tools and use cases that will allow exploiting it as hardware progresses,' insists the expert. Not yet processors, but already industrial collaborations. Today, C12's processors are still in development. 'But thanks to approaches like realistic emulation, HPC-quantum hybrid workflows and working with industrial partners, it's already possible to explore concrete cases, qualify their interest and guide technological choices,' assures Pierre Desjardins. 'This is the phase we consider critical today.' Among these industrial partners, C12 is already working with Thales on radar system optimization problems. Other projects are being conducted in chemistry and aeronautics for simulation of complex systems. C12 won't give names 'for confidentiality reasons.' 'But these collaborations illustrate the growing interest [of industrial and institutional players] in preparing, right now, the future integration of quantum computing into their workflows,' predicts Pierre Desjardins.

C12, a French quantum computing startup, has secured a €13.9 million innovation grant from France's France 2030 plan to accelerate industrialisation of its quantum computer. The company previously raised €18 million last year from investors including BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, 360 Capital, Varsity and Serena. C12 develops quantum processors using spin qubits integrated into carbon nanotubes within semiconductor chips, based on research from CNRS and École normale supérieure's physics laboratory. The technology aims to address scalability challenges in the quantum sector. The funding will support the 24-month QARTIQ project, focused on industrialising the entire quantum processor production chain, from chip manufacturing to integration with high-performance computing environments and cloud systems. The company is working to improve chip quality, characterisation and initialisation processes.