French Startup Quobly Raises 115 Million Euros to Industrialize Silicon Quantum Computing

--- headline: "French Startup Quobly Raises 115 Million Euros to Industrialize Silicon Quantum Computing" slug: quobly-115m-silicon-quantum-computing category: research story_number: 14 date: 2026-06-04 authors: - The Vault AI tags: - quantum-computing - silicon-qubits - european-tech - deep-tech - semiconductors - france ---

# French Startup Quobly Raises 115 Million Euros to Industrialize Silicon Quantum Computing

Grenoble-based Quobly closes a massive Series A to bring semiconductor-grade manufacturing to quantum computing, betting that the path to scalable quantum machines runs through the same silicon fabs that power the classical chip industry.

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In the global race to build a practical quantum computer, a French startup is making a bold wager: that the winner will not be the team with the most exotic physics, but the one that can manufacture qubits on the same production lines used to make smartphone chips.

Quobly, headquartered in Grenoble, announced on June 3 that it has closed a 115 million euro Series A financing round -- approximately 134 million US dollars -- to accelerate the industrialization of its silicon-based quantum computers and bring its first commercial product to market by the end of 2026. The round was led by French public investment bank Bpifrance, Swiss post-quantum security firm SEALSQ, and European semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics.

Additional participants include the European Innovation Council (EIC Fund), venture firm Blast, Air Liquide's venture capital arm ALIAD, and existing investor Innovacom. The company's shareholder base also includes French research institutions CEA and CNRS, alongside deeptech investors Quantonation and Supernova Invest.

The raise is among the largest Series A rounds for a European quantum computing company, and it signals growing confidence -- from both sovereign and industrial investors -- that silicon-based approaches to quantum computing may offer the most credible path to large-scale deployment.

The Silicon Bet

While rival quantum computing firms pursue superconducting circuits, trapped ions, or photonic approaches, Quobly is building its qubits using FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator) technology on standard 300-millimeter wafers -- the same wafer size used in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing worldwide. The logic is straightforward: if you can fabricate qubits using existing chipmaking infrastructure, you inherit decades of progress in yield optimization, process control, and manufacturing scale.

"This financing marks a transition from technology validation to industrial execution," said Maud Vinet, CEO and co-founder of Quobly. "Over the past two years, we have demonstrated that silicon qubits can be developed within semiconductor manufacturing processes and integrated into a system architecture. Our objective is to make quantum computing deployable, scalable and usable within real industrial environments."

The company has already moved a number of its fabrication processes into STMicroelectronics' 300mm production facility in Crolles, France, establishing a direct pipeline from research to industrial-grade manufacturing.

The Product Roadmap

Quobly's first commercial system, dubbed Alloy Pioneer, is designed for early adopters in high-performance computing and research. The machine will be accessible through the cloud by the end of 2026 via Alloy Forge, the company's quantum application development environment, before physical deployment within HPC data centers begins in 2027.

Critically, Quobly says its quantum computers are engineered to slot into existing HPC and data center infrastructure -- matching standard footprint, power supply, and utility requirements. That design-for-deployment philosophy could prove decisive in a market where exotic quantum hardware often demands bespoke facilities and support systems.

The Series A follows a 19 million euro seed phase spanning 2023 to 2025, during which Quobly demonstrated the feasibility of developing silicon qubits within standard semiconductor processes and built out a system architecture integrating device, control, and software layers. The company was originally founded as Siquance in 2022 before rebranding.

European Sovereignty in Quantum

The round carries significant geopolitical weight. Bpifrance is investing through its Deep Tech 2030 fund, managed on behalf of the French government as part of the France 2030 national investment initiative -- a program designed to secure French and European leadership in critical technologies.

Gwenael Hamon, Senior Investment Director at Bpifrance, framed the deal in explicitly strategic terms: "By choosing a quantum architecture compatible with established microelectronics industry standards, Quobly paves the way for the rapid and controlled industrialization of breakthrough technologies, an essential condition to ensure Europe's strategic autonomy in quantum computing."

Laurent Malier, Executive Vice President of Global Technology R&D at STMicroelectronics, echoed the industrial rationale: "Quantum computing will achieve the scale needed by HPC customers only if breakthrough quantum systems can be industrialized and integrated with semiconductor-grade rigor and backed by a robust ecosystem."

The partnership with SEALSQ adds another dimension. Carlos Moreira, CEO of SEALSQ, noted that combining Quobly's silicon quantum processors with SEALSQ's post-quantum security technologies would contribute to "the development of trusted quantum systems for industrial and critical applications" -- an acknowledgment that as quantum computing advances, so too must the cryptographic defenses against it.

The Road Ahead

Quobly now employs more than 100 people and maintains offices in Singapore and Canada alongside its Grenoble headquarters. The company has assembled strategic partnerships with STMicroelectronics, Air Liquide, semiconductor substrate maker Soitec, and nuclear materials specialist Orano to support the industrial integration of its quantum chips.

The quantum computing sector remains in its early innings, with no company yet demonstrating clear quantum advantage for commercially relevant problems. But the investment thesis behind Quobly is that by building on proven semiconductor manufacturing -- rather than requiring entirely new fabrication paradigms -- silicon qubits can reach the scale and reliability needed for real-world deployment faster than competing approaches.

Whether that bet pays off will depend on Quobly's ability to translate laboratory demonstrations into production-grade systems. The 115 million euro war chest, and the industrial heavyweights backing it, suggest the company will get a serious chance to find out.