[ Editorial ] Macron's (New) Quantum Leap

Here we go again with a government subsidies spree…

Emmanuel Macron has announced that the French government will put one billion euros on the table for the quantum sector — on top of the €1.8 billion from the 2021 plan and the €500 million in 2024 allocated through public procurement to support the defense industry. He also announced €550 million for the semiconductor industry, to be added to the €5 billion disbursed since 2018 — out of the €8 billion originally pledged.

The political optics are there. The genuine will, that’s another matter. As for the financial commitment — which, by any reasonable measure, ought to reflect political will — one has to acknowledge that it falls well short of what the United States or China are investing, since it is against them that France, through the EU, intends to compete.

In short, don’t hold your breath — Kaja Kallas notwithstanding — before the EU starts keeping China up at night. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy treated us in February 2025 to a memorable line: “If Europe cannot defeat Russia, how can we defeat China?”

The reality is that in terms of cumulative commitments — and, more to the point, any results worth showing for them — the numbers simply don’t add up, even with all Twenty-Seven member states combined.