With a $25 million state investment approved in the 2025 legislative session, New Mexico is banking on an economic development mission to become one of the standout states for quantum technology commercialization. By moving away and beyond the binary systems on which classical computing is based, quantum technologies have the ability to solve problems far more quickly.  

In late August, the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) announced that the state’s investment has been awarded to Roadrunner Venture Studios in Albuquerque, which will distribute the money to a coalition it leads of researchers, funders and innovators.

Albuquerque itself will benefit with a downtown campus that features “multi-node quantum network, dilution refrigerators, a quantum testbed, quantum packaging and demonstration facilities, and a rapid prototyping center, according to an EDD press release.

“New Mexico is really clear that quantum technologies are going to be as important to the next 50 years as semiconductors have been to the last 50 years,” says Nora Sackett, director of the New Mexico EDD’s Technology and Innovation office. 

 In addition, “Economic diversification is really important in New Mexico as a large percentage of our state revenues currently come from the oil and gas industry,” Sackett told us. “That has been a number one priority for the governor and many state leaders, and that is the lens through which we are looking at this opportunity.”

A number of solid reasons lie behind the state’s investment. To start, the state is in a good position to build on its existing assets, as the home of the Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Lab. The University of New Mexico also has built a nationally recognized quantum physics program. Beyond ongoing research into a rapidly growing field, the quantum technology hub is intended to launch new companies, attract private venture capital and generate jobs. The goal is to take research and development competencies and turn them into a growing industry for the state’s benefit.

To prepare for the expansion of New Mexico’s quantum technology footprint, it has been building up its workforce to prepare for the growth of the industry, with Sandia National Labs and the Central New Mexico Community College creating quantum technician boot camps and training programs to begin building the workforce for the industry. “Economic development is often a chicken and egg kind of problem,” Sackett says. “You need industry to create the jobs, but you need a trained workforce for that industry.”

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