Quantum computers need rare-earth magnets. This project is trying to get rid of the rare earths.
Rare earths are hard to get, expensive, and concentrated in a handful of countries. They are also the material of choice for the permanent magnets that create magnetic environments in some quantum computing architectures. Alice & Bob, the French startup known for its cat-qubit approach to fault-tolerant quantum computing, has just received a $3.9 million grant from the US Department of Energy to find a way out of that dependency.
The funding comes through ARPA-E's Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry program, a DOE initiative that funds quantum approaches to materials problems classical computers struggle to solve. Over three years, Alice & Bob will work with Los Alamos National Laboratory, GE Vernova Advanced Research, and Professor Emanuel Gull of the University of Michigan to develop fault-tolerant quantum algorithms for discovering rare-earth-free permanent magnets.
The problem is not abstract. Permanent magnets are essential components in some quantum hardware systems — they create the stable magnetic environments required by trapped-ion qubits and certain superconducting architectures. The rare-earth elements that make the best permanent magnets, particularly neodymium and samarium, are geographically concentrated and supply-chain volatile. If quantum simulation can accelerate the discovery of alternatives, the implications extend well beyond quantum computing into electric vehicles, wind turbines, and defense electronics.
What makes this partnership worth noting is the combination of capabilities. Alice & Bob brings fault-tolerant quantum algorithm development. Los Alamos brings tensor network simulation tools for optimizing quantum circuits. GE Vernova Advanced Research brings materials science expertise and, critically, a commercial lens — their mandate includes understanding whether the resulting magnets make economic sense to manufacture. That is a more complete problem-solving team than a typical academic consortium.
The quantum simulation angle is specific and plausible. Classical computers struggle to model the electronic structure of complex magnetic materials at the quantum level — this is exactly the class of problem where fault-tolerant quantum computers are expected to offer advantages over classical approaches, once that hardware exists. Alice & Bob is targeting a 10,000-fold speedup over state-of-the-art classical simulations, according to the company. The firm is building the algorithms before the machines are fully ready, which is a reasonable bet given how long materials science cycles tend to take.
Whether the bet pays off depends on whether the fault-tolerant machines arrive before the materials problem becomes genuinely urgent. Rare-earth supply concerns are real today. Quantum computers capable of running useful materials simulation at scale are further out. The gap is where this story lives — not the breakthrough, but the infrastructure being built to get there.
Federal R&D money funding quantum hardware materials is not new, but the specificity of this project — rare-earth-free magnets for quantum hardware — is a narrow enough target to be worth watching. If the algorithms work and the magnets work, the beneficiary is every quantum hardware company that currently buys magnets made from elements that come predominantly from one country.
