France's national high-performance computing agency GENCI this week announced the purchase of an 18-cat-qubit quantum computer from French firm Alice & Bob.

Set to go live in 2027, the system will be hosted at the Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC) and integrated with GENCI's Joliot-Curie supercomputer.

Dr Théau Peronnin, co-founder and CEO of Alice & Bob, said: "Scientific breakthroughs realize their full value when they can be deployed in real-world environments. The partnership signed today with GENCI will help bring together a community of academic and industrial researchers working to develop the technology stack required for fault-tolerant quantum computing, while broadening access to next-generation quantum technologies."

The cat-qubit-based system joins the Ruby and Lucy quantum computers already installed at the CEA's TGCC facility in Bruyères-le-Châtel.

The procurement is part of the National Quantum Strategy under the France 2030 investment plan. France is also set to host two 1,024-qubit universal quantum computing prototypes by 2032 through the PROQCIMA program of the National Quantum Strategy.

Michaël Krajecki, CEO of GENCI, said: "The deployment in Europe of this first fault-tolerant quantum system represents a major milestone for French and European research. Starting next year, this pioneering technology, designed by Alice & Bob, will provide our researchers and industrial partners with a revolutionary tool to push the boundaries of hybrid computing, combining HPC and quantum technologies."

Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob announced plans to start offering on-premise quantum computers earlier this month.

The French firm claims its superconducting ‘cat qubits’ are protected from bit-flip errors by design, meaning additional error-correcting qubits are only needed to tackle the remaining phase-flip errors. Though Amazon is also developing cat qubit quantum systems, Alice & Bob said Helium is the first on-premise system based on the technology.

Anne-Isabelle Étienvre, general administrator of the CEA, said: "We are delighted to welcome this Alice & Bob machine to our facilities after several years of collaboration. The installation of this third HQI program machine at the TGCC demonstrates our teams' ability to host and operate some of the world's most innovative computing systems. Bringing this quantum computer into operation will provide French and European research communities with cutting-edge technology on the path towards fault-tolerant quantum computing."