Quantum Computing Breakthrough: Networked Processors Advance

As quantum computing moves from experimental demonstrations to practical deployment, a fundamental emerges: how to scale individual quantum processors beyond their inherent physical limitations. Early quantum computing resources typically rely on standalone quantum processing units (QPUs), which are already showing practical utility and delivering value. However, scaling these individual machines will eventually encounter practical limits that could constrain the development of more complex quantum algorithms and fault-tolerant quantum computation. This scaling represents a critical bottleneck that quantum networking aims to address by fundamentally shifting how quantum resources can be deployed and expanded.

Pasqal and Welinq have announced a strengthened strategic collaboration to accelerate the development of networked quantum computing based on interconnected neutral-atom quantum processors. Building on an established partnership and shared neutral-atom technology stack, the companies are entering a new phase of rapid implementation that tightly aligns quantum computing and quantum networking. Their goal is to deliver scalable, network-ready quantum architectures specifically designed for deployment in data centers, moving beyond standalone QPUs toward interconnected quantum clusters.

The collaboration reaches a significant milestone with InterQo, a €4 million project supported by the Île-de-France Region and BPI France through the i-Demo Régionalis call under the France 2030 program. This initiative includes a bilateral industrial partnership between Pasqal and Welinq, alongside a dedicated research collaboration led by Pasqal with the group of Alexei Ourjoumtsev at Collège de France (JEIP), a leading expert in quantum optics and strong light-matter interactions. The project focuses on two critical technical s: designing QPUs with built-in networking capabilities and integrating efficient photon extraction systems to connect them.

Quantum networking enables separate quantum processors to function as a single, more powerful computer by converting quantum information from qubits inside a QPU into photons, which serve as ideal carriers of flying quantum information. These photons are transmitted optically between processors through optical quantum interconnects, allowing entanglement to be shared between qubits located on different QPUs. This approach effectively creates a larger quantum computer with many more qubits than any individual machine could provide, potentially enabling quantum computing to scale beyond the vertical scalability barriers of individual processors, which are currently around 10,000 physical qubits for neutral-atom systems.

Pasqal has established itself as an industrial leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, operating two quantum manufacturing facilities in France and Canada, and has deployed operational QPUs at major HPC centers across Europe, including CEA and Jülich, with CINECA following, as well as QPUs in Saudi Arabia and Canada. The company is building QPU architectures that are natively compatible with networked configurations, featuring vacuum chamber designs that can physically integrate photonic interfaces while maintaining the pristine conditions QPUs require, along with dynamical qubit positioning that enables flexible interface qubit coupling for multiplexed interconnection.

Welinq develops cutting-edge quantum networking solutions designed to interconnect quantum processors at high rates, with its core innovation being a high-rate entanglement generation platform based on waveguide-QED that acts as a quantum Ethernet port. This platform allows quantum processors to be directly networked and share entanglement between them. As part of this full-stack networking approach, Welinq has demonstrated the most powerful neutral-atom-based quantum memory to date and recently announced its first commercial sale, translating laboratory breakthroughs into deployable components for data center environments.

This strategic alignment supports a coherent approach to building quantum computer clusters deployable in data centers and aligns with broader industrial initiatives like Q-PLANET, a Pasqal-led European program to structure and scale the quantum technology supply chain, where Welinq participates as a partner. Together with long-standing collaborations with industrial partners such as Exail for advanced laser technologies, these initiatives establish a solid industrial foundation for quantum technologies and strengthen Europe's position in the global quantum landscape.

The partnership positions Pasqal and Welinq to deliver networked quantum systems that integrate into existing data center infrastructure, strengthening Europe's quantum ecosystem by combining industrial deployment expertise with breakthrough networking capabilities developed on European soil. As quantum computing advances toward networked, production-scale systems, this collaboration aims to deliver the critical infrastructure required for next-generation quantum data centers while establishing technological leadership and generating high-value employment across the French and European quantum ecosystem.