Quantinuum bolsters New Mexico's position as a leader in quantum technology with new investment.
Global company Quantinuum intends to build a research and development hub in New Mexico, which has worked to position itself as a base for quantum technology innovation.
The integrated quantum computing company, which has headquarters in Denver and the United Kingdom, announced the move Jan. 21.
The new site, yet to be selected, will support its ongoing efforts around photonics technologies to further the company’s product development.
Quantum computing requires fairly stringent environmental measures along with high precision labs and infrastructure that’s not usually readily available, Rajeeb “Raj” Hazra, Ph.D., president and CEO of Quantinuum, told Albuquerque Business First.
For this reason, the company is exploring all options, he explained, and due to the company’s target of being up and running by the end of 2025, a more readily available site with a viable talent pool is most attractive.
The governor's office proposed a legislative package and invited Quantinuum as an ecosystem anchor tenant. Outside of that, the company is engaging with the New Mexico Economic Development Department on incentives.
New Mexico has one of the largest concentrations of quantum research in the United States with the presence of Sandia National Laboratories, the Air Force Research Lab and the University of New Mexico. As a result, a consortium of partners in the state have worked to position it as a hub for quantum technologies.
As part of its Tech Hubs program, in July 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration designated Quantinuum’s headquarters state of Colorado as well as New Mexico as leading hubs for quantum information technology, making The Land of Enchantment an ideal location for Quantinuum to locate its research and development hub.
Additionally, New Mexico Quantum Moonshot, a collaborative initiative between national laboratories, universities and private sector entities, has been invited as one of only four groups nationwide to submit a full proposal to the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program. The award would provide up to $160 million over 10 years to project teams trying to create groundbreaking technology and bring it to market.
Part of the company’s decision to locate it’s research and development hub in the state can be attributed to Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum’s joint forces to become Quantinuum as Honeywell International, Inc. manages Sandia through its subsidiary, National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, Hazra explained.
“[I have] a deep awareness and appreciation and admiration for the depth of talent in New Mexico ecosystem,” Hazra said.
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“We were aligned in in objective with New Mexico. We were aligned in the need for, ‘Why now?’ Because we have to get this already started and grown for us to deliver our road map, and we were aligned in heart, because it felt like the right place based on the years of working with various ecosystem partners,” he added.
Quantinuum’s research and development goals have been made specific, Hazra explained. One main area of focus is integrated optics, a core technology fundamental to building quantum computers, and making them larger and more powerful.
The power of a quantum computer comes from the number of qubits, the basic computing units the computer has, and specifically how good they are, or their “fidelity.”
Optics is critical to managing those qubits, reading and setting their value, moving them, and understanding their state. The integrated part is critical in building larger and more powerful machines with more qubits as the correct levels of integration contribute to ensuring the system’s engineering is enabled for highly complex systems, explained Hazra.
“It is a capability that is of strategic value to us, because it is the key driver of scalability, right? And so that's the specific technology that we will be advancing and accelerating through our presence in New Mexico and our investment and our increased investment in this area for our roadmap,” said Hazra.
Quantinuum plans to be the first company with 100 logical qubits in 2026 and hundreds of logical qubits and 10s of 1000s of physical qubits by 2029. These are machines with the potential to help with drug discovery, run large supply chain optimization problems, look at new materials for refrigerants and fertilizers and understand new energy sources.
“The real value from quantum computing is not 30 years away, it's in the next three to five years. And we absolutely expect New Mexico to be both a leader and have been a beneficiary of being an early mover in this technology area,” said Hazra.
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