Roadrunner Venture Studios says QuEra will anchor its Downtown Albuquerque quantum lab

Most quantum computers require complex cooling systems, large amounts of space and an abundance of energy to operate. 

But QuEra’s approach to quantum computing — its technology can run at room temperature, fit in a home garage and use just 10 kilowatts of power — could be the key to delivering the technology’s promise sooner. 

The Massachusetts-based company, alongside Roadrunner Venture Studios, announced Monday a $4 million partnership to build a quantum testbed at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab in Albuquerque.

The partnership follows New York-based Qunnect’s November launch of ABQ-Net, New Mexico’s first quantum network. Both companies are part of the larger $300 million push by the state to establish its quantum hub through Roadrunner’s coalition, joining Elevate Quantum, Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of New Mexico and others.

“We think the ecosystem will become richer and richer, which ultimately is going to be good for everyone,” said Yuval Boger, QuEra chief commercial officer. “It’s going to be good for our partners to work with such a unique device, obviously good for us (and) also very good for the New Mexico economy.”

Nora Meyers Sackett, director of the state’s Technology and Innovation Office, said New Mexico’s quantum investments are a holistic approach across state budgeting and programming.

That approach includes $120 million between New Mexico and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, $185 million from the State Investment Council, which is backing venture capital firms in quantum and deep tech, and a $25 million award to Roadrunner by the state Economic Development Department to create a quantum hub that will incubate startups. 

Boger said QuEra, founded in 2018, currently has two quantum computers deployed: One that is available for “anyone in the world” to use through Amazon Web Services, and another delivered to a customer in Japan. 

While the company does have international offices in the United Kingdom and Japan, Boger said New Mexico will be QuEra’s second U.S. location. Once set up, he said the company plans to hire for multiple jobs, including physicists, software engineers and technicians.

Boger added that QuEra has been operating in New Mexico for some time, without a physical space, through ongoing collaborations with LANL, Sandia and UNM.

So when New Mexico announced its investment in quantum, Boger said QuEra “thought it was a wonderful idea” to get involved with Roadrunner’s initiative to build a coalition around the burgeoning industry.

Where classical computers use “bits” for processing, Boger said quantum computers use “qubits.” A single qubit is made up of one atom and, when close together, they can interact to complete tasks at a more rapid and accurate pace. However, when far apart, he said they become neutral — something QuEra takes advantage of.

QuEra’s neutral-atom systems offer unique advantages compared to quantum computers not often found in the industry: higher scale capabilities, better performance and faster processing. 

“We believe that QuEra is building the future. Neutral-atom quantum computers are not just incrementally better — they offer a distinct physics-based architecture with a really high qubit-count potential,” said Adam Hammer, Roadrunner CEO and co-founder. “And frankly, (at) room temperature operation, which could make QuEra one of the leading routes for a really practical quantum advantage in America.”

QuEra, alongside other coalition members, will work out of the Roadrunner Quantum Lab, Hammer said, which will be adjacent to the studio’s headquarters in Downtown Albuquerque.

But QuEra will act as an anchor for the lab, Hammer said, as the company will build open-access quantum testbeds to support research and development across photonics and optics so that scientists, founders and entrepreneurs can “test on their systems.” 

“It will allow creators to, frankly, prototype (and) validate with almost no limitation,” Hammer said. “They’re also going to create the infrastructure so that folks can actually access some of their QuEra compute stack. That infrastructure will allow builders and our partners to, basically, remotely run and test algorithms.”

Following Roadrunner’s $25 million quantum innovation and commercialization award, granted by the EDD in August, QuEra’s announcement is the second such made in the studio’s broader push to build a quantum hub in New Mexico. 

After getting the state award, Hammer said the state provided a list of deliverables — including company creations, relocations and physical infrastructure — that Roadrunner is expected to have significantly completed by this summer. 

The quantum industry is projected to be worth $1 trillion in the “near future,” Meyers Sackett said. With that in mind, she said New Mexico must build the foundation it needs now to reap those economic benefits. 

“We want to make sure that that growth is happening here in New Mexico,” Meyers Sackett said. “We have had the research and development foundations (and) the scientific foundations of this industry, so our investments are making sure that the commercialization of that research creates jobs for New Mexicans (and) creates economic impact for the state.”

Hannah García covered tech and energy for the Journal.