White paper
Circularity in the Quantum Industry
Securing Our Quantum Future Through Circular Economy Strategies
Quantum technologies are entering an industrialization phase at precisely the moment when their material foundations deserve urgent scrutiny. The hardware underpinning quantum computing, sensing, and communication relies on a narrow set of highly specialized critical raw materials, many characterized by near-total EU import dependence and near-zero end-of-life recycling rates.
Unlike the automotive or battery sectors, where circularity challenges only became visible once scale was reached, the quantum industry has a rare opportunity: it can embed circular principles before supply chains and product architectures become locked in.
This joint report by kiutra and CIRCULAR REPUBLIC examines four strategic levers for circular value creation, maps material dependencies, and proposes the Circular Quantum Industry Alliance as a coordinating vehicle for collective action.
What the research reveals:
1. Supply risk is structural, not volumetric
Quantum hardware consumes grams, not tones, of critical materials – yet extreme supplier concentration means a single company’s failure can immobilize entire development programs. The risk is dependency, not scarcity.
2. Helium-3 is a single-point failure
The working fluid for millikelvin dilution refrigerators falls entirely outside EU CRM policy. Its nuclear governance route creates a structural blind spot that requires dedicated closed-loop recovery strategies.
3. Transparency is the missing foundation
Supply chain visibility in the quantum sector is structurally insufficient. Suppliers routinely classify material grades and process routes as confidential, making lifecycle assessments and circular pathways impossible without common frameworks.
4. The window is open but closing
Path-dependence theory is clear: intervention is most effective when design flexibility is highest. The semiconductor and rare earth industries demonstrate what happens when circularity planning is deferred until commercial scale arrives.
Get the full report
25 pages of industry research, stakeholder interviews, material dependency analysis, and strategic recommendations for policymakers, quantum hardware companies, and investors.
- Industry stakeholder perspectives across the value chain
- Critical raw material dependency maps & supply risk analysis
- SWOT analysis of the European quantum ecosystem
- Four strategic action fields with implementation guidance
- Helium-3 gap analysis and closed-loop recovery strategies
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