President Macron delivered a landmark speech at France’s Atomic Energy Centre, CEA, in Bruyères-le-Châtel last Friday, building on the technological and commercial objectives France is seeking to achieve, as discussed in my article published last Wednesday, “Time for the UK to Engage with Europe on AI Sovereignty.” In his speech, Mr Macron set out France’s determination to secure sovereignty in computing power, quantum technologies and semiconductors, while also building the capacity to lead the market in these strategic sectors.
France, he announced, is committing 1 billion euros immediately to quantum, 550 million euros to advanced semiconductors, and nearly 3 billion euros over five years to its quantum stack, with the next 18 to 24 months treated as the critical implementation window. Macron also said the government would open the semiconductor pre-notification in June 2026 and present a new national electronics strategy in July 2026.
President Macron stressed the timeline as critical. Macron said the coming ’18 to 24 months’ are decisive for research and industry alike, and that those who move fastest in quantum will set standards and capture market share. He also said the French government would present a new national electronics strategy by July 2026, with the pre-notification for the semiconductor programme opening in June 2026 and the conclusions of the Franco-German mission on breakthrough innovation to be finalised by June 2026 at VivaTech.
Emmanuel Macron’s speech on Europe’s computing power, quantum technologies and semiconductors made one thing clear: France wants not only to secure sovereignty in these strategic technologies, but to turn that sovereignty into market leadership. He set out a connected industrial vision spanning high-performance computing, quantum, semiconductors, cloud and AI, and argued that Europe must control these layers if it is to remain independent and competitive.
The speech is notable because it combines industrial ambition with strategic state action. President Macron is not describing sovereignty as retreat; he is describing it as the ability to build, scale and compete in the technologies that matter most. The political challenge for Europe, as I pointed out in my previous article, is whether it can pursue that goal. For the UK, whether we will mobilize adequate means to achieve sovereignty in these key emerging technologies and obtain shares of the market resulting from their development.
Note – I am grateful to Dr Xavier Landreau of the CEA for drawing my attention to Mr Macron’s speech following his visit in their premises.
* Christian de Vartavan is an eminent scholar and now CEO of a London blockchain consulting company and Associate, APPG AI, House of Lords.
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8 Comments
Macron has a certain charisma, but it’s interesting to note, according to Politico, that his critics accused Macron of having by his actions ignored the democratic decision of the voters for political reasons, sacrificing democratic principles for his own interests
Macron has the vision AND the strategy to address the global threat of AI, more than we have, while we continue to bicker about the Labour leadership.
I am not clear what point the author is making ?
The UK govt is also investing in quantum https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uks-quantum-leap-tohelp-beat-diseasedeliver-high-paid-jobs-and-strengthen-national-security-as-first-country-in-the-world-to-roll-out-quantum
I am not clear what point the author is making ?
The UK govt is also investing in quantum
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uks-quantum-leap-tohelp-beat-diseasedeliver-high-paid-jobs-and-strengthen-national-security-as-first-country-in-the-world-to-roll-out-quantum
The UK govt is also investing in quantum
Is that a good idea though? Currently there is only one known use for quantum computers: using Shor’s algorithm to factor large numbers, and other problems which can be reduced to factoring large numbers. That’s it. There is no other useful thing that quantum computers can, even theoretically, do better than classical computers (there are a few toy problems that Quantum computers can do as well, like Grover’s algorithm, but there are no practical uses for them).
Given that, is the return on early investment in quantum computers really likely to be worth it?
Of course the UK government is investing in “quantum” – Labour pays a lot of attention to the Tony Blair Institute, which gets a lot of funding from tech companies to promote their unachievable dreams in exchange for taxpayer money.
Maybe one day the physics experiments around quantum computing will provide a device which can at great expense successfully beat an abacus at numerical operations – but it’s not going to be any time soon. There’s some interesting science there, I’m not opposed to pure research without a commercial point, we should probably do more of it … but I can see there are also higher priorities right now.
Still, the AI folk can see the problem with their current bandwagon coming and need something new to hype for cash after the wheels previously fell off “the metaverse” and “blockchain” and so on. Sticking “quantum” on the front sounds cool and doesn’t need an actual product because barely anyone understands it anyway – as the government press release shows, quite a lot of technologies (many of them nothing to do with “quantum computing”, and in less hyped times would have been more honestly described as “particle physics” or “medical imaging”) are being roped together for the funding trough.
Thank you Mr McGrath for your comments. This article follows up on my previous piece about the UK seeking full sovereignty over major emerging technologies—particularly AI, but also Quantum.
Now if your point is correct that Quantum is planned to be funded, I share the concern that, as with AI, the tangible returns may fall short of expectations.
Approximately £1 billion has already been invested in Quantum with very limited measurable returns so far, and a further £2 billion is planned through to 2030—all from taxpayer funds. While the intention behind this investment is commendable, I believe demonstrable/tangible results will matter even more.
In a world of competing superpowers, even France can only prosper as part of the eu. How then can we compete with them unless we too forge closer links with our neighbours, ideally by rejoining and joining forces with Macron and others?