C12 publicizes that it recently raised a funding round of €18 million ($19.4 million at today’s exchange rates). Originally founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the École Normale Supérieure Physical Laboratory, the company is working on a unique process for creating quantum computers based on carbon nanotubes.
Although the concept of quantum computing is not recent, it is still a work in progress. Many research teams approach this topic from different points of view. The goal is to create a large-scale quantum computer that may perform calculations with few errors.
But wait, why do we’d like quantum computers at all? Computers as they exist today are based entirely on electronic transistors. We’ve gotten really good at making transistors smaller, so we are able to fit more transistors on one chip. As a result, computing power has increased at an exponential rate over the past 60 years.
Yet current computer architecture has its limitations. Even if corporations start building larger data centers, some problems simply cannot be solved with traditional computers. It is also unclear whether Moore’s law will remain relevant in the years to return.
This is where quantum computers can come in handy.
“If we want to create a model – a comprehensive simulation of a chemical reaction – to know how new drugs will interact with our cells, this is not possible with conventional approaches” – C12 co-founder and CEO Pierre Desjardins (pictured right) he told TechCrunch.
“There are a whole range of optimization problems to resolve, each in transport, logistics and production. You cannot run them on a conventional computer because there might be too many variables and too many possible scenarios,” he continued.
Matthieu Desjardins, his brother, has a PhD in quantum physics and serves as the company’s chief technology officer. At one point in our conversation, Pierre Desjardins even called his brother a “scientific genius.”
And since it’s 2024, there’s even an AI aspect that ought to persuade you that quantum computing research is essential. “Today, training a large language model also means consuming a huge amount of energy,” said Pierre Desjardins. “Quantum is also a computational method that uses much less energy.”
How to build a quantum computer
C12 says the two key differences from other teams working on quantum computing are that it uses a different material – carbon nanotubes – and has a specific manufacturing process – a nanoassembly process, which is currently patented.
“Today, I think we are the only ones in the world who control this very special process, which involves placing a carbon nanotube on a silicon chip. And what’s absolutely 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 for large corporations corresponding to Google, IBM and Amazon are currently focusing on a different process. Most of them use superconducting materials corresponding to aluminum on a silicon substrate.
According to C12, although this method led to early breakthroughs. However, using aluminum won’t work on a large scale on account of interference when you begin adding more qubits. Although quantum technology is not yet mature, C12 believes it is working on the next generation of quantum computing in comparison with aluminum-based processes.
The company launched its first production line in a basement near the Pantheon in Paris. In this facility, they produce carbon nanotubes, inspect the tubes, and then integrate them into a silicon substrate.
“Everything works now. We currently produce about one chip a week, which we then test in our mini data center,” said Pierre Desjardins. But don’t expect to see a quantum computer just yet. “We are still really only verifying the basic elements,” he added. The company is currently focusing on chips with one or two qubits.
Quantum emulation
As R&D progresses, the C12 team is also working on its business ecosystem. Like many quantum corporations, C12 has created an emulator called Callisto. Emulators allow programmers to jot down and run quantum code on a classical computer.
They won’t get the results they’d with a quantum computer, but at least they’ll be able to get began when quantum computers are available.
“We are currently focusing on two industries, the chemical industry and the energy industry. The chemical industry uses it to simulate chemical reactions, and the energy industry mainly uses it for optimization problems,” said Pierre Desjardins. In particular, the startup collaborates with Air Liquide.
And if we go back to the funding round, Varsity Capital, EIC Fund and Verve Ventures are investing in it; existing investors 360 Capital, Digital Venture Fund Bpifrance and BNP Paribas Développement are also participating in this round once again.
Currently, 45 people of 18 different nationalities work at C12, including 22 with PhD degrees. Thanks to the recently raised capital, C12 plans to sign further partnerships with industrial partners. But the company also has a research goal.
“The second goal is to perform for the first time a quantum operation between two qubits that are located at a large distance from each other,” said Pierre Desjardins. By long distance he means “tens of micrometers” from each other. It doesn’t seem to be much, but it should be crucial when it involves scaling quantum computing.