{"id":157808,"date":"2025-09-15T06:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T06:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/157808\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T06:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T06:28:06","slug":"quantum-computing-could-bring-new-growth-to-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/157808\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum computing could bring new growth to New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in a press release<\/a>, on Sept. 2, a partnership between the state of New Mexico and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to accelerate the development, testing and validation of emerging quantum computing technologies. With the partnership comes the establishment of the Quantum Frontiers Project, which will bring New Mexican private-sector innovators, national laboratories and universities to expand upon quantum computing research, according to the press release.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Daily Lobo, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said that the state is putting \u201cskin in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually cities chase a growing industry. That\u2019s what we do in economic development. We\u2019ll be like \u2018Oh, renewable energies, we should try to build a work force for that,\u2019\u201d Keller said. \u201cQuantum computing offers a rare opportunity that you almost never see, which is the chance to lead in something that is the source of a bunch of other industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Investment Council has been investing in local quantum computing through Roadrunner Venture Studio, a group that provides resources to tech companies, organizations and start-ups working with scientific cutting-edge technology, such as quantum computing geared at major problem solving.<\/p>\n

The state has already begun to invest in quantum computing through Roadrunner Venture Studio, with a $25 million investment in August by the New Mexico Economic Development Department, according to an EDD press release<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keller said he thinks the work with DARPA, Roadrunner Venture Studio, and other investments in quantum computing represents an opportunity for New Mexico to be a leader in quantum computing technology.<\/p>\n

Some quantum computing groups, such as Quantinuum \u2014 a Colorado-based start-up and the current largest stand-alone quantum computing company \u2014 have already opened offices in New Mexico. In Albuquerque, CNM Ingenuity<\/a>, a job training center is providing specialized education to a potential quantum computing work force, Keller said.<\/p>\n

New Mexicans can expect to see economic growth and new job opportunities from quantum computing, Keller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a modern version of what people harken back to in terms of manufacturing jobs. It\u2019s facilities that are filled with people making stuff with their hands and tools,\u201d Keller said. \u201c80%, if not more, is accessible to folks even without a college degree, just specialized training. This is thousands of jobs. And it\u2019s jobs that are accessible to folks from all walks of life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The created jobs will also have longevity, helping to solve the problem of New Mexico\u2019s aging population and the trend of young New Mexicans leaving the state, Keller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the thing that will keep our kids here. That will give them a job to stay here for. And it\u2019s the thing that will bring our kids back that have left,\u201d Keller said.<\/p>\n

By 2035, New Mexico\u2019s population is expected to start to decline, according to the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, the federal project encompassing the state\u2019s partnership, aims to assess whether varying groups have utility-scale quantum computers \u2014 meaning its computational value exceeds its cost \u2014 by 2033, according to DARPA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ivan Deutsch, a UNM professor of physics and astronomy, the director of the Center for Quantum Information and Control and the founding director of the Quantum New Mexico Institute, said that quantum computers store and transmit information at a much smaller scale, allowing for more complex computational function than conventional computers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cQuantum computing is a particular paradigm whereby we can compute by harnessing the physics of the microscopic world,\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cIf we could do it, we could process information in incredibly powerful ways that aren\u2019t possible with our computers of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is still uncertain what a quantum computer looks like, but various companies \u2014 including IBM, Google, Amazon and Quantinuum \u2014 have different designs, Deutsch said. It remains an arms race to see which designs will become most scalable, profitable and popular.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The uncertainty represents risk as much as opportunity, especially when it comes to investment of funding, Deutsch said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is we don\u2019t know how long this is going to take until it will be commercially profitable. This is kind of a long game. And like any investment, you want to get in early but you don\u2019t know when your investment is going to pay off,\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cI think for the state, the city, for all of New Mexico, it\u2019s a question of \u2018How much are we willing to invest over what period of time for an uncertain return?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another benefit of quantum computing is its potential to have a much smaller environmental footprint than other computers of similar power. Quantum computing initiatives are not likely to have negative ecological impacts on the New Mexican landscape, Deutsch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of things we\u2019re excited about with quantum technology is that it\u2019s greener. It takes less energy to have a quantum computer than it does to have (Artificial Intelligence) chips. AI famously requires so much power, so much energy. This doesn’t take this kind of power at all,\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cI think it remains to be seen what the environmental impact will be, but what we see at the moment is we\u2019re moving in a much greener direction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keller said he expects quantum computing will not put a strain on New Mexico ecosystems the way some tech developments do.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of having massive data centers that just suck water and power \u2014 like out in Los Lunas \u2014 we can reduce that down to a tiny machine that is the size of a classroom. And the component that requires intense energy is the size of a glass of water,\u201d Keller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The support for the development of this technology is unique and inspired optimism in Deutsch, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for 30 years; I\u2019ve never seen our different institutions working together as well,\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cThe national laboratories, the universities, the city, the state \u2014 we\u2019re all giving it the ol\u2019 college try.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in a press release, on Sept. 2, a partnership between the state of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[191,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-157808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}