I was born in New Mexico and though I haven’t lived there in many years I take special notice when I see news about the state. Seeing the increasing tempo of quantum-related news coming from the state in recent months, I decided to take a closer look at what is happening and I have to admit, I was surprised. Far from being a small state backwater in the quantum ecosystem, New Mexico has over the past two years become a leader in US state efforts to create quantum “hubs” to foster economic development. Both startups and established vendors in the quantum industry should look closely at the state for support in growing their businesses.
The dark art of estimating public funding for quantum technology
Public funding for quantum technology and ecosystem development can be a murky area to examine. For example, several years ago the canonical figure for Chinese government investment in quantum technology was widely believed to be $15.3 billion; at least most Western observers seemed to hold this view.
Following the daisy chain of sourcing for this figure in news articles and press releases usually led back to McKinsey’s 2022 Quantum Technology Monitor report [1], which in turn cited a 2021 CIFAR report [2]. The CIFAR report stated the $15.3 billion figure referred to ¥100 billion in funding for a Chinese National Quantum Laboratory to be paid out over five years. Oddly, while the CIFAR report didn’t directly provide a source for the figure, it did link in its general list of sources to an MIT Technology Review profile [3] of Pan Jian-Wei, a leading Chinese quantum scientist referred to as “the father of quantum” in China, which in the profile lists funding for the Lab at $1 billion.
Maybe more noteworthy, Lu Chao-Yang, another leading Chinese quantum scientist and close colleague of Pan Jian-Wei, told The New Scientist in 2021 (as reported by The Wire China [4]) that the $15.3 billion figure didn’t make sense: “I think Google alone maybe will have more than we invest for the whole country. We’re not moving so fast in terms of the national project because not all scientists in China are convinced. We’re still waiting for the real money. If there’s a further delay, we’ll definitely be left behind.” In another interview in 2023 with Foreign Policy [5], the reporter wrote that Lu “had ‘no idea’ how the rumor began that China had spent $15 billion on quantum computing since ‘the actual money is maybe 25 percent of that.’”
I would also add that Pan co-authored a study in 2019 [6] that collected a detailed summary of Chinese public funding into quantum technology from 1998 to 2019 and found the total for that period was $987 million. So, given the weak sourcing for $15.3 billion in lab funding, a prominent scientist (who presumably would have a good view on the funding landscape) saying the $15.3 billion figure doesn’t make sense, and all funding up until 2019 totaling less than $1 billion, it’s safer to say that Chinese public funding to date is much more likely to be $3 billion to $4 billion, rather than $15.3 billion.
My point in bringing up China is to take a particularly hard case to make a point that applies broadly to efforts to quantify and verify public funding for quantum: it’s hard to know at first glance what’s real; digging into the details is important.
Public funding for quantum technology in New Mexico
Let’s turn now to New Mexico. The state’s Economic Development Department (EDD) has publicly stated at least twice [7, 8] in 2026 that New Mexico has invested “more than $450 million into quantum technology infrastructure and workforce…”. So, right from the start we have a much clearer view compared to China, in that a state agency is publicly putting a stake in the ground concerning the state government’s public funding of quantum technology. But what comprises the $450 million? What is this money being spent on and what are the goals of this spend? Let’s see how clear the picture may be as we dig into the details.
A good place to start are the reports the state legislature’s Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) provides to the Legislature and public after each legislative session ends, detailing what was appropriated during the session. Reading through these documents for 2025 [9] and 2026 [10] we see two that specifically call out investments in quantum technology in the text:
2025: $21.8 million for multiple initiatives, including:
$10 million for “quantum venture studios”.
$10 million for “quantum space” – which seems to mean facilities space, not space-based technology.
$1.8 million for the Quantum New Mexico Institute (QNM-I), a research center at the University of New Mexico (UNM), including $500,000 for first-year fellowships at the Institute.
2026: $153.3 million for multiple initiatives, including:
$10 million for what is described generically as “quantum computing”.
$49.3 million for a state match to the federal government’s DARPA quantum benchmarking initiative.
$10.8 million from the 2025 budget for the DARPA quantum benchmarking initiative.
$38 million for a “centralized quantum computing research hub”.
$25 million previously allocated to the Roadrunner Venture Studios.
$13 million for the University of New Mexico, including $5 million for “the Health Sciences Center to upgrade computing infrastructure to support advanced bioscience research using artificial intelligence and quantum technologies” and $8 million “to buy advanced scientific equipment and upgrade laboratories”.
$3 million for UNM’s QNM-I.
Interestingly, the report also mentions $40 million that the Legislature earmarked for quantum initiatives from a separate $110 million appropriation for the research, development, and deployment (RDD) fund. The RDD fund was set up in 2025 to fund innovation, economic growth, and job creation across several technology areas, including quantum, through early-stage capital and financial support. So, the report actually describes $193.3 million in total funding.
Clearly, the near-term trend has been that the state is quickly ramping up its focus and support on quantum technology. Looking at the LFC’s reports from 2020 through 2023, we don’t find specific callouts for quantum technology. However, we can see the early signs of the state’s quantum technology support appearing. I found a reference [11] to $700,000 of a $13.2 million General Obligation Bond allocated in 2020 to UNM for a “Quantum Materials and Technology Lab”. That same source cites a 2021 addition of $100,000 for this lab. (The source describes the funding as a “request”, but I was able to confirm through multiple other sources that the money was actually spent for the lab upgrades.)
While there were efforts to provide public funding for quantum technology in 2022 and 2023, such as Senate Bill 154 (2023), which would have allocated $1.5 million for quantum-related faculty positions at three different New Mexico universities, these bills were ultimately not passed.
In 2024, the LFC published an interesting document [12] providing significant detail on quantum-specific public funding during the year, as well as the intended uses for that funding, along with some of the first statistics regarding the state of the quantum ecosystem in New Mexico. This appears to be the first significant public investment in quantum technology by the state. The document indicates that $5 million was awarded to UNM from the state Technology Enhancement Fund (TEF) to provide matching funds for “the quantum computing initiative”, which, based on other sourcing, forms part of the state’s $10 million in matching funds for the Elevate Quantum regional quantum hub initiative comprising New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. The TEF is a general fund meant to provide New Mexico organizations with matching funds to use to secure federal funding and private funding in cases where that funding needs to be matched by the recipient. The document notes that the EDD also intended to allocate another $5 million for quantum technology, but this amount needed to be appropriated in 2025. It appears to have been appropriated and formed the second half of the $10 million in New Mexico’s contribution to Elevate Quantum.
The document also notes that New Mexico received $5.7 million out of a total of $40 million from the federal government as part of the Elevate Quantum initiative. The document states that “The tech hub will focus on commercial-ready applications in sensing, computing, networking, and enabling hardware. The consortium aims to expedite lab-to-market translation by establishing globally unique quantum labs and fabrication facilities, reducing the time and cost of commercializing quantum innovation; lowering barriers to quantum entrepreneurship; and building a workforce ready to meet the needs of this growing sector.” The document further notes that “There are currently around 3 thousand jobs in quantum technology of which 50 percent do not require a 4-year degree and have average annual salaries of $125 thousand. UNM reports the field will grow to 15 thousand jobs by 2030 with 80 percent of those jobs not requiring a 4-year degree.”
So, in total we have $199.1 million in total state funding from 2020 through 2026, or $204.8 million if we include the $5.7 million in federal funding, which I suspect the EDD did for its $450 million figure. This means that so far, we have about $245 million in funding left to identify.
A major clue comes in a September 2025 Reuters interview with New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham [13]. In the interview, Grisham says the state planned to invest $315 million in quantum computing. In that amount she includes $185 million from its sovereign wealth fund for private venture capital firms to invest in quantum businesses with a presence in New Mexico. There would also be $60 million each from the state and DARPA to “vet and help position those projects for commercial viability.” So, that is $305 million. Oddly, the article also mentions the $25 million already discussed above, allocated to the Roadrunner Venture Studios funding, so, just based on the article’s own figures, it’s not clear how the state is arriving at its “$315 million” figure.
The figures above do, however, help us approximate the EDD’s “$450 million” figure:
$204.8 from the funding sources listed above prior to the $315 million announcement.
$185 million from the state’s sovereign wealth fund.
$60 million from DARPA, a federal agency. (The $60 million in state matching funds for the DARPA initiative are already accounted for in the 2026 state figures above.
Summing up these figures leads to $449.8 million, provided that the EDD includes federal Elevate Quantum funding and federal DARPA funding spent in New Mexico, which I believe they are doing. I’m going to leave it at that: certainly, we could find other money, such as the City of Albuquerque’s $750,000 matching grant to the quantum computing vendor Quantinuum to establish a local research and development hub in the city [14]. But the $450 million comprises, I believe, the lion’s share of New Mexico public funding for quantum.
Public funding goals for quantum technology in New Mexico
Rob Black, the Secretary for Economic Development New Mexico, summarized the goals for public funding of quantum technology in the state, writing in a July 2026 blog post [15]. [Please note: running this quote through the Pangram AI checker indicates it is 100% written by AI. I do not write with AI. Including this quote in the article means that my overall article will be evaluated as partially AI-written. In my own check, the Substack Pangram checker says that “1%” of my article was written by AI - it is this quote]:
“We’ve always had the raw materials with three national and defense laboratories, UNM’s Quantum New Mexico Institute unites campus research with Sandia and Los Alamos, world-class defense and aerospace expertise, and one of the strongest R&D environments in the country. What we didn’t have, for a long time, was a way to keep that research here. Discoveries would happen in New Mexico and then leave to become companies and jobs somewhere else.
So, we changed our approach. Instead of funding research and hoping the rest follows, we started investing across the whole pipeline: commercialization, startup support, workforce training, infrastructure. All of it, moving together.
ABQ-Net is the clearest example. Built through a partnership between the State of New Mexico and Roadrunner Venture Studios to attract founders from across the country, it solves a real problem for quantum startups: instead of spending millions building a private testbed, companies can validate their technology on a live commercial fiber network instead.”
Broadly speaking, the state is investing in four key areas:
Infrastructure: In addition to the ABQ-Net deployment, the state is building shared technical infrastructure so that startups don’t have to invest in this infrastructure themselves. For example, the Road Runner Venture Studios will contain dilution refrigerators, a quantum testbed, quantum packaging and demonstration facilities, and a rapid prototyping center [16].
Workforce development: Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) was designated as a “workforce development lead” (along with the University of Colorado-Boulder) as part of the Elevate Quantum tech hub [17]. CNM is partnering with Sandia National Labs to create a 10-week “Quantum Technician Bootcamp” training program. CNM’s press release states (without sourcing) that “more than 10,000 quantum jobs are expected to be created by 2030 and 80 percent of these jobs will be for non-advanced degrees and offer a median salary of $125,000 per year. Graduates of the CNM Quantum Technician Bootcamp are expected to earn starting salaries in the $80,000-per-year range.”
Academic research support: Much of the directly appropriated state funding benefits New Mexico’s three universities in their quantum technology research efforts. As described above, public funding has directly supported research staff through fellowships, purchased specialized research equipment, and upgraded physical infrastructure.
Venture funding: Interestingly, one way to sub-total the $450 million figure implies that $370 million directly targets venture funding and support for quantum businesses in New Mexico.
As the EDD’s Black notes above, a key thrust of the state government’s efforts has been to foster quantum commercial development in New Mexico that remains in the state. Infrastructure that can be shared among groups of startups as well as the availability of talent able to support company activities in the state also primarily target business support goals. Academic investments, while presumably also helpful to an overall quantum ecosystem in New Mexico, are clearly a subordinate priority for the state’s public funding efforts.
New Mexico is a first-tier quantum hub
Quantum startups and established vendors should be and are looking seriously at New Mexico. Whether as a launching pad or a satellite location, New Mexico combines historical research depth (Los Alamos and Sandia) with a more recent and quickly growing investment commitment in building a commercial quantum ecosystem.
Looking at state-level activity in quantum ecosystem development, the “first tier” of states includes, in my view: New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Connecticut. While I haven’t done the same deep-dive funding look into these states as I lay out above for New Mexico, here are a few highlights, with sourcing, to give a sense of how New Mexico compares in total funding amounts:
Colorado: $40.5 million in federal funding through Elevate Quantum and $74 million in state funding, alongside an estimated $1 billion in private capital [18].
Illinois: $500 million in state funding to seed the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park [19].
Maryland: $27.5 million in state funding as an initial investment in the state’s “Capital of Quantum” initiative, which is expected to catalyze $1 billion in investments spanning state, federal, and private sources [20].
New York: $300 million to establish the Quantum Research and Innovation Hub at the State University of New York at Stony Brook [21].
Connecticut: $121 million statewide investment in quantum technology, including support for QuantumCT, a nonprofit co-led by UConn and Yale [22].
New Mexico’s efforts at attracting quantum businesses to the state are gaining traction. As of September 2026, quantum businesses that have established a presence in New Mexico, committed to establishing a presence in New Mexico, or are using the ABQ-Net infrastructure include [23, 24, 25]:
Aliro Technologies: quantum networking software, ABQ-Net user
Bandelier Technologies: quantum sensing
Conductor Quantum: quantum computing software
Infleqtion: neutral atom quantum computing and sensing
Maybell Quantum: dilution refrigerators
Mesa Photonics: photonics/squeezed light lasers
Mesa Quantum: quantum sensors and clocks
Photon Queue: quantum memory
Quantinuum: trapped ion quantum computing
QuEra Computing: neutral atom quantum computing
Qunnect: quantum networking
Tensora: quantum sensing
UbiQD: quantum dots
Launching “Lucero Foresight”
If you’ve read this far, you are definitely an interested reader! First, thank you for that. These articles have been fun to write, and I hope they are interesting and informative for you to read. Second, I’d like to “tease” the upcoming announcement of the launch of my new industry analyst firm “Lucero Foresight”. I’ll have more to say about the new practice in the next few weeks when I “officially” launch. For the time being, I’ll just say that my goal with the firm is to deep dive into analysis of the commercial opportunities for quantum computing, communications, and sensing, through long-form syndicated reports and custom research engagements. Stay tuned!
Sources
[1] McKinsey & Company, Quantum Technology Monitor (p. 16, June 2022), https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/quantum%20computing%20funding%20remains%20strong%20but%20talent%20gap%20raises%20concern/quantum-technology-monitor.pdf
[2] CIFAR, A Quantum Revolution: Report on Global Policies for Quantum Technology (p.14, April 2021), https://cifar.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/QuantumReport-EN-May2021.pdf
[3] MIT Technology Review, The man turning China into a quantum superpower (19 December 2018), https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/19/1571/the-man-turning-china-into-a-quantum-superpower/
[4] The Wire China, The Quantum Panic (16 February 2025), https://www.thewirechina.com/2025/02/16/the-quantum-panic-china-us/
[5] Foreign Policy, The U.S. Wants to Make Sure China Can’t Catch Up on Quantum Computing (31 March 2023), https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/31/us-china-competition-quantum-computing/
[6] Qiang Zhang, Feihu Xu, Li Li, Nai-Le Liu and Jian-Wei Pan, Quantum information research in China (8 November 2019), https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2058-9565/ab4bea
[7] Economic Development New Mexico, New Mexico Is Building the Quantum Economy (29 June 26), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/new-mexico-is-building-the-quantum-economy/
[8] Economic Development New Mexico, New Mexico offers matching funds to quantum companies (27 August 2026), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/new-mexico-offers-matching-funds-to-quantum-companies/
[9] State of New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, LEGISLATING FOR RESULTS: POST-SESSION REVIEW Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Session (p.23, May 2025), https://www.nmlegis.gov/Entity/LFC/Documents/Session_Publications/Post_Session_Fiscal_Reviews/May%202025%20Post%20Session.pdf
[10] State of New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, LEGISLATING FOR RESULTS: Post-Session Review Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Session (p. 25, April 2026), https://www.nmlegis.gov/Entity/LFC/Documents/Session_Publications/Post_Session_Fiscal_Reviews/2026%20Post%20Session.pdf
[11] University of New Mexico Board of Regents, Finance and Facilities Committee, Meeting Agenda, (p. 129, 12 October 2022), https://evpforfa.unm.edu/ff-meetings/e-book-october-final2.pdf
[12] State of New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, Key Hearing Issues, Building a Hub for Quantum Technology (16 July 2024), https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/ALFC%20071524%20Item%2011%20TAB%20-%20J.pdf
[13] Reuters, New Mexico to invest $315 million in quantum computing drive (2 September 2025), https://www.reuters.com/business/new-mexico-invest-315-million-quantum-computing-drive-2025-09-02/
[14] City of Albuquerque, Leading Quantum Computing Company Quantinuum Expands in Albuquerque (18 August 2026), https://www.cabq.gov/economicdevelopment/news/leading-quantum-computing-company-quantinuum-expands-in-albuquerque
[15] Economic Development New Mexico, New Mexico Is Building the Quantum Economy (29 June 26), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/new-mexico-is-building-the-quantum-economy/
[16] Economic Development New Mexico, New Mexico launches $25M quantum venture studio (25 August 2025), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/new-mexico-launches-25m-quantum-venture-studio/
[17] Central New Mexico Community College, Elevate Quantum Awarded $127 Million to Secure US Leadership in Quantum Technology – CNM a Designated Lead for Training Quantum Technicians (3 July 2024), https://www.cnm.edu/news/elevate-quantum-awarded-127-million-to-secure-us-leadership-in-quantum-technology-2013-cnm-a-designated-lead-for-training-quantum-technicians
[18] US Senator Michael Bennet, Bennet, Hickenlooper Celebrate Over $40 Million in Federal Funding for Colorado’s Tech Hub Elevate Quantum (2 July 2024), https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2024/07/02/press-releases-id-b4baf34d-4a80-4835-a53a-c733c6e4f8fd/
[19] University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Grainger Engineers to lead Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, shape the future of quantum computing (25 July 2024), https://grainger.illinois.edu/news/stories/illinois-quantum-microelectronics-park
[20] The Office of Governor Wes Moore, Governor Moore Announces $1 Billion “Capital of Quantum” Initiative (14 January 2025), https://governor.maryland.gov/news/press-releases/governor-moore-announces-1-billion-capital-quantum-initiative
[21] Governor Kathy Hochul, Governor Hochul Announces $300 Million Investment in SUNY at Stony Brook’s Quantum Research and Innovation Hub (17 September 2025), https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-300-million-investment-suny-stony-brooks-quantum-research-and
[22] QuantumCT, State pledges $121 million for quantum technologies, New Haven tech incubator (2 December 2025), https://www.quantumct.org/2025/12/02/state-pledges-121-million-for-quantum-technologies-new-haven-tech-incubator/
[23] Economic Development New Mexico, State awards $1.2 million to grow New Mexico’s quantum sector (14 July 2026), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/state-awards-1-2-million-to-grow-new-mexicos-quantum-sector/
[24] Economic Development New Mexico, New Mexico wins national award for quantum ecosystem (21 May 2026), https://edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/new-mexico-wins-national-award-for-quantum-ecosystem/
[25] Qunnect, Four Leading Quantum Companies Sign-on to ABQ-Net, the First Open-Access Quantum Network in the United States (28 July 2026), https://www.qunnect.inc/press-releases/2026-07-28