Leaders are incentivizing a tech industry they believe is still emerging, to ensure New Mexico is on the forefront of growth.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Quantum computing is a relatively new and rapidly growing tech sector but New Mexico leaders believe it could seriously upgrade the state’s economy.
Many believe quantum is the next era of computer technology. A lot of states are trying to get in on this emerging industry as it develops but New Mexico believes they already has a head start and they’re doing what they can to continue that momentum.
“Two years earlier, we would have been too early for quantum. But two years from now, it will be too late,” New Mexico Economic Secretary Rob Black said.
Right now, New Mexico is leading the pack in quantum computing. Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs lead quantum technologies and many place the University of New Mexico’s Quantum Institute as one of the most highly regarded research programs in the U.S.
“We’ve had tremendous resources and now with the state really contributing also – and the labs have the federal resources – it’s really all about making it work, like just bringing it all together,” Quantum New Mexico Institute Director Robert Ledoux said.
Experts say the unique properties of quantum mechanics allow for much more powerful computer processors that can solve incredibly complex problems more efficiently.
“Quantum computing has the capability of radically transforming our ability to innovate in those systems, to do things we just can’t do at the moment. It could be in finance, could be in communications, logistics, navigation, computing, bioscience…” Ledoux said.
Experts project quantum computing to become a $1 trillion industry by 2035. State lawmakers approved more than $100 million in incentives this year to bring more quantum companies to New Mexico, like Qunnect. Qunnect recently opened the U.S.’s first open-ended quantum network here in Albuquerque.
“Other companies and researchers from national labs and researchers from universities can all come and use this network as a facility,” Qunnect CEO Noel Goddard said.
Many believe the industry could create hundreds of jobs with the potential to scale up to thousands of jobs in the “very near future.”
New Mexico and Colorado joined forces 2024 to become the first federally designated quantum hub in the nation. Ledoux said there are talks about creating an undergraduate quantum degree at UNM to continue help building out the workforce.
