{"id":7038,"date":"2026-03-27T11:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/wptest\/?p=7038"},"modified":"2026-03-27T11:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:33:34","slug":"the-quantum-act-can-europe-avoid-an-ai-repeat-as-the-global-race-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/2026\/03\/27\/the-quantum-act-can-europe-avoid-an-ai-repeat-as-the-global-race-heats-up\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quantum Act: Can Europe Avoid an \u2018AI Repeat\u2019 as the Global Race Heats Up?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Brussels prepares to release the first draft of the Quantum Act<\/strong> in Q2 2026, the continent finds itself at a familiar crossroads. Having largely ceded the generative AI race to American hyperscalers, European investors and policymakers are now issuing a stark warning: Quantum cannot be next.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Capital Gap: 5% vs. 50%<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite a flurry of new fund launches\u2014including Paris-based Quantonation\u2019s<\/strong> \u20ac220 million oversubscribed fund and Denmark\u2019s 55North\u2019s<\/strong> \u20ac300 million vehicle\u2014the structural funding gap remains cavernous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to European Commission data, only 5% of global private capital<\/strong> is currently allocated to European quantum companies. In sharp contrast, the United States commands 50%<\/strong>. This disparity is driving Europe\u2019s brightest stars across the Atlantic; Finnish unicorn IQM<\/strong> recently announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger in the US, seeking the liquidity and valuation premiums that European markets currently lack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulation: The Double-Edged Sword<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Daiva Rakauskait\u0117<\/strong>, CFA and partner at Aneli Capital, argues that Europe\u2019s penchant for early regulation could be its undoing. While the Quantum Act aims to unify a fragmented market, Rakauskait\u0117 warns that premature “guardrails” could stifle a sector that is still in its infancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Europe already lags behind many US companies and universities,” Rakauskait\u0117 notes. “If Europe does not want to lose the quantum race… it must first give startups the freedom to move fast and avoid burdening them with regulation on a market that is still taking shape.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $97 Billion Stakes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The urgency is not merely academic. McKinsey<\/strong> estimates that the three pillars of Quantum Technology (QT)\u2014computing, communication, and sensing\u2014could generate $97 billion in global revenue by 2035<\/strong>. Beyond the revenue, quantum represents a fundamental shift in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Cybersecurity:<\/strong> Future systems could render current encryption obsolete, making “Post-Quantum Cryptography” a matter of national security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Industry Pilots:<\/strong> Sectors such as pharmaceuticals, finance, and logistics are already moving from theory to “quantum-ready” pilots to identify value creation points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Editor\u2019s Take: The Pension Fund Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Europe sits on roughly \u20ac3 trillion in pension assets<\/strong>, yet only a minuscule fraction is funnelled into high-growth venture capital. Rakauskait\u0117\u2019s proposal is clear: to compete with the sheer weight of US and Chinese state-backed capital, Europe must unlock its institutional “dry powder.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For the ASEAN observer, this serves as a cautionary tale. As Malaysia charts its own technology roadmap, the lesson from Brussels is that top-tier talent and world-class universities (which Europe possesses in abundance) are insufficient without a regulatory environment that prioritises commercialisation over caution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Quantum Competitiveness: Europe vs. USA (2026)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    Feature<\/strong><\/td>European Union<\/strong><\/td>United States<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
    Private Capital Share<\/strong><\/td>5%<\/td>50%<\/td><\/tr>
    Strategy<\/strong><\/td>Quantum Act (Drafting Q2 2026)<\/td>National Quantum Initiative Act<\/td><\/tr>
    Key Unicorns<\/strong><\/td>IQM (Finland – Listing in US)<\/td>PsiQuantum, IonQ, Rigetti<\/td><\/tr>
    Institutional Assets<\/strong><\/td>\u20ac3 Trillion (Low VC allocation)<\/td>High Institutional VC participation<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As Brussels prepares to release the first draft of the Quantum Act in Q2 2026, the continent finds itself at a familiar crossroads. Having largely ceded the generative AI race to American hyperscalers, European investors and policymakers are now issuing a stark warning: Quantum cannot be next. The Capital Gap: 5% vs. 50% Despite a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,34],"tags":[492,494,490,495,493,491,489,88],"class_list":["post-7038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-general","tag-deeptech","tag-digitalsovereignty","tag-eutech","tag-globaleconomy","tag-innovationstrategy","tag-quantumact","tag-quantumcomputing","tag-venturecapital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7040,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions\/7040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}