Quandela Deploys Canada's First Photonic Quantum System to National Sandbox
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
The French firm joins the Quantum Computing Sandbox, offering light-based qubit architecture to researchers and small businesses on Canadian soil.
Quandela has signed an agreement with CMC Microsystems to integrate its photonic quantum computing capabilities into the Quantum Computing Sandbox (QCS). According to BetaKit, the move makes Quandela's system the first and only photonic quantum computer based in Canada available through the QCS.
The QCS is a national research and development program designed to accelerate quantum adoption for businesses and academia. This program is a component of the Fabrication of Integrated Components for the Internet’s Edge (FABrIC) network, a federally funded project managed by CMC to bolster the semiconductor and quantum industries.
While the sandbox already includes cloud services from US-based providers such as Rigetti Computing, QuEra, IonQ, and Quantinuum—as well as Sherbrooke-based PINQ, which manages a superconducting system from IBM—Quandela's addition introduces a different hardware approach. Unlike superconducting qubits that reside on physical chips, photonic qubits transmit data using particles of light.
Quandela co-founder Valérian Giesz told BetaKit that the integration provides participants with more architectural options for prototyping and implementing solutions, noting that specific algorithms perform better on certain architectures. Giesz also highlighted the importance of data sovereignty, stating that the Canada-based system allows users to host their work and data entirely on Canadian soil.
Beyond providing hardware access, Quandela will offer technical and practical support to "high-potential projects" within the network.