By Leo Marchandon
Sept 17 (Reuters) - France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and quantum startup Alice & Bob said on Thursday they would develop software linking quantum processors with traditional supercomputers, arguing the industry should avoid the kind of dependence on a single software ecosystem that helped cement Nvidia's dominance in artificial intelligence.
They will seek to improve the Qaptiva software developed by state-owned supercomputer maker Bull, with the aim of providing an alternative
to Nvidia's CUDA-Q.
Alternatives to CUDA-Q would help avoid the software bottleneck that exists around CUDA in AI, executives at both entities told Reuters.
Alice & Bob said software is the part of quantum computing that makes the technology usable. "The more alternatives there are, the faster the whole field moves," it said.
CEA, a research centre with an annual budget of nearly €6 billion ($6.9 billion) that notably oversees France's nuclear deterrent, said the programme aimed to boost the domestic quantum industry by becoming an early customer for French startups and granting them access to its computing facilities.
The aim is to link conventional supercomputers and quantum processors, assigning the quantum machine only the parts of a problem for which it may eventually offer an advantage.
CEA has already installed quantum computers from French companies Quandela and Pasqal alongside its classical supercomputer and will add Alice & Bob's in 2027.
($1 = 0.8714 euros)
(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
