For New Mexico’s quantum ambitions, leaders stress speed and infrastructure

The quantum industry might seem futuristic and distant, but it’s already establishing a strong foothold in New Mexico.

Experts from different science-based industries spoke about what brought them to the Land of Enchantment and what they need in return from leaders to make New Mexico a top place to do business, at the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting at Sandia Golf Club on Tuesday.

“New Mexico is not the biggest state, but it needs to be the fastest state,” said Lachlan Carey, manager at Rocky Mountain Institute.

New Mexico has seen massive public and private investments in high-tech sectors in recent years, especially in quantum, where the state hopes to position itself as a leader.

The state is in the process of doling out $25 million for the creation of a quantum venture studio that will aid in the development of quantum technology.

Quantum computing, an experimental technology, uses quantum bits to perform calculations based on the principles of quantum mechanics, which in turn can solve problems much faster than traditional computers.

But if New Mexico wants to brand itself as a quantum state, it’ll take more than just talk, said Jennifer Strabley, vice president and general manager of Quantinuum. The business describes itself as the world’s largest integrated quantum company and plans to open a research and development facility in New Mexico this fall.

Strabley suggested that New Mexico become the first state to make a quantum data center paired with an artificial intelligence data center.

“That would really put New Mexico on the map for saying we’re serious about quantum, we’re serious about its applications, we’re really serious about our focus on national security,” she said. “And that would be a very exciting step for the United States and for the region.”

One barrier to implementing such centers is that the facilities require large amounts of energy, Carey said, leading to other issues like a lack of shovel-ready sites with that kind of large-scale infrastructure already set up. That allows companies to arrive in New Mexico and immediately start operations.

Carey used SunZia as an example, the nation’s largest clean energy infrastructure project that’s taken decades to even start construction on.

“That’s not okay, right? We need to be doing these projects much faster, and so part of that will be site readiness,” Carey said.

He added that the site readiness fund the Legislature created this year was “a really big step to preparing these mega sites (to be) ready for those big demand centers.”