Quantum News Nexus

France’s Pasqal, which very soon is expected to become that latest publicly-traded quantum computing firm, announced a pact with Saudi Arabia’s Eleven Ventures to establish a commercial joint venture to deploy, commercialize and scale Pasqal’s quantum computing systems across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and around the Middle East and North Africa region.

The agreement was announced during a Kingdom of Saudi Arabia state visit to France, and comes just one day before shareholders of special purpose acquisition company Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: BBCQ) vote on the SPAC’s impending merger with Pasqal. That deal was announced last March.

It is not exactly a surprise to see Pasqal aligning with a Saudi Arabian firm on advancing national and regional plans, given that it is a longtime partner of Saudi oil giant Aramco, and worked with that company to build out the nation’s first quantum computer last year.

Saudi Arabia’s Eleven Ventures, by the way, should not to be confused with/probably will be easily confused with Bulgaria’s Eleven Ventures or Silicon Valley’s Ten Eleven Ventures, the latter of which is an investor in Finland’s IQM Quantum Computers.

In any case, the joint venture will help advance the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 ambitions in artificial intelligence and advanced computing, and to position the Kingdom as a regional hub for quantum technology and a developer of in-region quantum talent, the partners said. 

Even considering Pasqal’s previous work with Aramco, Saudi Arabia has not exactly been a leader in quantum computing up to now. With the exception of Israel, which has been a hotbed of quantum start-up activity and national ambitions, the Middle East in general has not been tracking with the more robust quantum research, development, and investment happening in North America, Europe, and Asia. Perhaps that is about to change, and could be a geopolitical issue worth watching

“The Kingdom has moved faster than most markets to turn advanced computing into national capability. We believe this joint venture puts Pasqal’s quantum systems inside the Kingdom, built to scale with the region’s ambition – not adjacent to it,” said Dr. Wasiq Bokhari, Chief Executive Officer of Pasqal.

Image source: Pasqal

Quantum News Nexus is a site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.