This report, developed by CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and kiutra, analyzes the potential of a Circular Quantum Industry Alliance to coordinate material mapping, design pilots, and policy input across the European value chain. Quantum technologies are entering an industrialisation 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 specialised critical raw materials, including rare earth elements, niobium, gallium, indium, and helium-3, many of which are characterised by high supply concentration, 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.
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