C12 recently announced that it had raised €18 million ($19.4 million at current exchange rates) in funding. Originally founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the physics lab at École Normale Supérieure, the company has been researching a unique process for creating quantum computers based on carbon nanotubes.
The concept of quantum computing is not new, but it is still a work in progress. Many scientific teams have approached this topic from different angles. The goal is to create large-scale quantum computers that can run calculations with a small amount of errors.
But wait, why do we need a quantum computer in the first place? Computers that exist today are based entirely on electronic transistors. And we've gotten better at making transistors smaller, so we can fit more transistors on a single chip. As a result, computing power has advanced at an exponential rate over the past 60 years.
However, current computer architecture has limitations. Even as companies begin to build larger data centers, some problems cannot be solved with traditional computers. It is also unclear whether Moore's Law will continue to apply in the future.
This is where quantum computers can be useful.
C12 co-founder and CEO Pierre Desjardins (pictured right) told TechCrunch.
“There are many optimization problems to solve in transportation, logistics and manufacturing. “There are too many variables and too many possible scenarios to run on a traditional computer,” he continued.
His brother, Matthieu Desjardins, has a PhD in quantum physics and serves as the company's CTO. At one point during the conversation, Pierre Desjardins even called his older brother a “scientific genius.”
And since it's 2024, there's also an AI angle that will convince you that quantum computing research is important. “Training large language models today means consuming enormous amounts of energy,” said Pierre Desjardins. “And quantum is also a method of computing that uses much less energy.”
How to build a quantum computer
C12 said the two main differences from other teams working on quantum computers are that they use different materials, such as carbon nanotubes, and that they have a specific manufacturing process, the now-patented nanoassembly process.
“Currently, we believe we are the only company in the world that controls the very special process of placing carbon nanotubes on silicon chips. And what's really fascinating is the scale. The diameter of a carbon nanotube is 10,000 times smaller than a human hair,” said Pierre Desjardins.
Research teams working at large companies such as Google, IBM or Amazon are currently focusing on different processes. In most cases, superconducting materials such as aluminum are used on silicon substrates.
According to C12, this method led to an early breakthrough. But as you start adding more qubits, using aluminum doesn't work at scale because of interference. Quantum is not yet mature, but C12 believes it is working on the next generation of quantum computing compared to these aluminum-based processes.
The company established its first production line in a basement near the Pantheon in Paris. The facility manufactures carbon nanotubes, controls the tubes, and then integrates them with silicon substrates.
“Now it’s running. Currently we are producing about one chip a week and testing it in our mini data centres,” said Pierre Desjardins. But don't expect to see quantum computers just yet. “We are still just verifying the basic elements,” he added. The company is currently focusing on chips with one or two qubits.
quantum emulation
As research and development work progresses, the C12 team is also working on the business ecosystem. Like many quantum companies, C12 has created an emulator called Callisto. Emulators allow developers to write and run some quantum code on classical computers.
They won't achieve the results that quantum computers can achieve, but at least they will be ready to hit the ground running when quantum computers become available.
“We are currently focusing on two sectors: the chemical industry and the energy industry. In the chemical industry we use it to simulate chemical reactions, and in the energy industry we mainly use it for optimization problems,” says Pierre Desjardins. In particular, the startup is partnering with Air Liquide.
Coming back to the funding round, Varsity Capital, EIC Fund, and Verve Ventures are investing. Existing investors 360 Capital, Bpifrance's Digital Venture Fund and BNP Paribas Développement are also participating once again in this round.
Currently, 45 people from 18 nationalities work at C12, including 22 PhDs. C12 recently raised capital and plans to enter into more partnerships with industry partners. But the company also has research goals.
“Another goal is to perform quantum operations between two qubits that are far apart from each other for the first time,” said Pierre Desjardins. Long distance means “tens of micrometers” from each other. It may not seem like a big deal, but it will be key to scaling quantum computing.
