Quandela, GENCI, and CEA have announced the delivery of Lucy, a 12-qubit universal digital photonic quantum computer, to the Très Grand Centre de calcul (TGCC) of CEA in France. The system, which is the most powerful photonic quantum computer deployed in a European computing center, was procured by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (JU) in the context of the EuroQCS-France consortium.
The Lucy system will be hosted and operated at CEA’s TGCC, where it will be coupled to the Joliot-Curie supercomputer. This integration is a step in enabling hybrid HPC–quantum workflows and makes Lucy the second QPU integrated into the TGCC supercomputing environment. Lucy was assembled in twelve months at Quandela’s facilities, with cryogenic modules engineered by attocube systems AG and quantum devices manufactured at Quandela’s semiconductor pilot line. The system emphasizes European capacity to design and deliver sovereign quantum technologies, with 80% of its components sourced in Europe.
The system is intended to be accessible to a wide community of European researchers and industrial users, supporting experimentation with quantum algorithms and the development of early-stage applications in fields such as optimization, chemistry, and machine learning. EuroHPC and GENCI have already provided remote access to other Quandela photonic quantum processors to prepare the European research community for Lucy’s full deployment in early 2026.
Niccolo Somaschi, CEO of Quandela, noted that the delivery is a key building block for Europe’s hybrid computing future, strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty and demonstrating the power of cross-border collaboration. Philippe Lavocat, CEO and President of GENCI, declared that the delivery represents a major step forward in French and European quantum ambitions, underscoring the multiplication of synergies between HPC and quantum computing.
Read the full announcement here.
October 23, 2025
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