New Mexico will invest US$435 million (A$664.1 million) into quantum computing in partnership with the United States Department of Defense, as the race to build quantum computers continues to intensify.
The American state will team with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to accelerate the development of quantum technology, under its Quantum Frontier Project plan.
This will also advance DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), which aims to build industrially useful quantum computers by 2033.
“Quantum computing may prove to be the most consequential technology of this century for national security and breakthrough innovations,” said New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. “New Mexico, having once pioneered applied physics, is excited to partner with DARPA on the QBI program to stay at the forefront of frontier technology and bring our world-class research, development, and entrepreneurial ecosystem into the fold.”
“Quantum computing means jobs, innovation, and a stronger economy for our state, and we intend to seize this moment in the global race,” said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rob Black.
DARPA and New Mexico plan to provide contributions of up to US$60 million each to quantum computing development over four years, New Mexico’s government said. U.S. Department of Energy laboratories located in New Mexico, including Sandia and Los Alamos, are already participating in DARPA’s QBI testing.
New Mexico will invest $315 million into quantum computing companies and infrastructure, according to Lujan Grisham, including $185 million from the state’s sovereign wealth fund.
The state also teamed with deep technology investor Roadrunner Venture Studios in August in a $25 million deal to accelerate New Mexico’s quantum commercialisation and development.
Both Illinois and Maryland agreed to partner with DARPA to test new quantum computing technologies last year.
Quantum computing relies on particles that exist in multiple states at once to potentially rapidly calculate large numbers of possible solutions. While commercial quantum computers are not yet available due to high costs and elevated error rates, governments and major companies like Microsoft and Google have invested heavily into the technology.
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