--- title: "Quantum Machines joins Roadrunner Quantum Lab in New Mexico" date: "2026-10-01T07:21:45+00:00" url: "https://www.quantum-machines.co/resources/blog/blog-quantum-industry-state-by-state/" description: "How state-level investment, like New Mexico's Roadrunner Quantum Lab, is building the infrastructure the US quantum industry actually needs." --- # Quantum Machines joins Roadrunner Quantum Lab in New Mexico Writers ![Keith Wright](https://www.quantum-machines.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/img-5ac47178-7cd3-4cb7-b5ae-1da99f7b2e5d-150x150.webp) #### Keith Wright Head of US Business Development at Quantum Machines Keith Wright is Head of US Business Development at Quantum Machines, where he leads special projects across quantum testbeds, hubs, and HPC-quantum initiatives. Before QM, he led partnerships at Qblox and spent a decade at Google driving growth across marketing and cloud solutions. He also founded SweepLift, a demand-generation platform for enterprise teams. Keith is based in San Diego, California. Blog October 2026 | 5 min read ![](https://www.quantum-machines.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Blog_banner-1-1024x568.webp) Quantum Machines is [establishing a presence at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab in Albuquerque,](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/insights/roadrunner-quantum-lab-opens-its-doors-in-albuquerque-to-first-twelve-tenants) New Mexico, part of the state’s $450 million commitment to quantum. We’re leasing lab space, hiring a New Mexico-based team member to lead our on-the-ground work, and bringing one of our OPX control systems to the site ahead of the facility’s opening. “Quantum Machines’ decision to establish a presence at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab is another strong signal that New Mexico is becoming one of the country’s most important destinations for quantum technology,” said Jessi Olsen, CEO of Elevate Quantum. “QM brings world-class expertise in quantum control, calibration, and characterization – capabilities that will add real value to the companies, researchers, and national laboratories working across the region. Elevate Quantum is thrilled to welcome them into an ecosystem that is increasingly bringing together the talent, infrastructure, and industry needed to accelerate quantum technologies from research into real-world deployment.” However, it’s important to recognise that this is one piece of a much bigger push we’re building across the US. Yes, the national conversation runs through Washington: funding bills, national lab budgets, the race against other countries. But that conversation misses where the real work happens. Quantum computing gets built on lab benches, by engineers actually wiring up hardware and running it, and more of that work is happening state by state, not federally. ## **A national strategy needs local infrastructure** The federal government has made quantum a priority for years, through the National Quantum Initiative, DARPA programs, and sustained investment in the national labs. That funding and attention matter. But a national strategy on its own doesn’t put lab space, control hardware, or cryogenic testing equipment in front of a startup that needs it this quarter. It doesn’t give a small quantum company access to a qubit fabrication line, or a place to test a new control system alongside researchers working on a different hardware modality entirely. ![](https://www.quantum-machines.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/RR-ribbon-1024x576.webp) Ribbon-cutting ceremony on 29 September 2026 in Albuquerque, NM That’s the gap state-level investment fills. It’s less visible than a federal appropriations bill, but it’s often the difference between a company that can actually build something and one that spends a year just looking for the right facility. Roadrunner Venture Studios and New Mexico’s Technology and Innovation Office recently opened the Roadrunner Quantum Lab, a 35,000 square foot facility built specifically to house quantum companies alongside national lab researchers and university partners. It’s lab space, equipment, and shared infrastructure that companies can actually use starting this year. Our OPX system will give researchers, startups, and industry partners in New Mexico access to advanced quantum test, measurement, and characterization capabilities, and help establish the facility as a hub supporting multiple qubit modalities, including superconducting, spin, and neutral atom platforms, rather than being built around just one. ## **Elevate Quantum and the workforce piece** Infrastructure alone doesn’t build an industry. People do. That’s why Elevate Quantum’s role in this ecosystem matters just as much as the physical lab space. Elevate Quantum is the federally designated quantum Tech Hub for New Mexico and Colorado, and its mission is squarely about acceleration: building shared fabrication and testing capabilities, running workforce training programs, and helping quantum technology move faster from research into commercial products. That workforce piece is often underappreciated. It’s possible to fund quantum research for decades and still not have enough trained technicians who know how to run a dilution refrigerator, operate a control system, or troubleshoot a cryostat. Elevate Quantum is building exactly that kind of hands-on technical training, using the same commercial-grade equipment that industry and national labs actually use. That’s the kind of unglamorous, practical work that determines whether a state can actually sustain a quantum industry, rather than just host a few marquee companies. ## **Why this matters beyond New Mexico** The broader point here isn’t really about any one state. It’s about what it actually takes to move quantum computing from a research field into a commercial industry. That requires physical infrastructure that companies can access without building it themselves from scratch. It requires trained people who can operate that infrastructure. And it requires an ecosystem where national labs, universities, startups, and established companies are working in the same physical space, not just citing each other’s papers. New Mexico has a long history in quantum information science through its national labs, and it’s now translating that research strength into the kind of commercial infrastructure that lets companies actually build. That’s a model worth watching, and one other states are likely to look at as they think about their own quantum strategies. For Quantum Machines, our presence at Roadrunner Quantum Lab reflects something we believe more broadly: progress in this industry depends on control systems and infrastructure being accessible in the places where researchers and companies are actually doing the work, not just in a handful of established hubs. We’re looking forward to being part of what New Mexico is building.