Quantinuum said it will open a research-and-development site in Albuquerque focused on integrated photonics, the company’s senior product operations director told a Legislative Finance Committee panel on technology and workforce development.

Denise Holmquist, senior director of product operations at Quantinuum, said the company selected New Mexico because of nearby national laboratories and local university talent, and that the new center will focus on “integrated photonics,” the miniaturized optics hardware needed to scale quantum machines. “We really do intend to partner quite a bit with universities and educational organizations to really promote the pipeline of the physicists that we need to run our company,” Holmquist said.

The announcement matters because Quantinuum expects the R&D center to support workforce development, seed supply‑chain activity and local testing capacity at a time state officials are trying to deepen New Mexico’s science-and-technology economy. Holmquist told legislators the company will initially colocate research capabilities near Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories and plans internships and hands-on test beds for students and local partners.

Quantinuum described itself to the panel as a “full stack” quantum computing company formed through a 2021 merger and operating multiple commercially viable systems. Holmquist said the company employs about 600 people worldwide, that “over 400 of them have degrees in either PhDs or masters programs,” that it operates four commercially available quantum computers and holds more than 130 patents.

On technical focus, Holmquist said the Albuquerque site will emphasize integrated photonics — directing and miniaturizing light inside quantum devices — to enable future scaling of quantum hardware. She described three priorities for the company’s New Mexico presence: job and workforce development, maturing the technology and building a domestic supply chain for components now primarily produced overseas.

Lawmakers asked about power demands for quantum computers. Holmquist said Quantinuum’s chosen modality, ion-trap quantum computing, requires far less power and cooling than superconducting systems that rely on dilution refrigerators. “Our technology doesn’t need to be chilled as much, so we don’t use those dilution refrigerators. So our power consumption is gonna be much less than some of those other modalities,” she said.

Economic Development Department staff who participated in the panel said they had helped connect Quantinuum with site and incentive information. Quantinuum also announced plans for a public open house in September tied to a quantum-industry week in the region.

The company said it will prioritize internships and partnerships with local universities and community colleges to grow a pipeline of engineers and technicians in addition to physicists, noting that many roles are engineering and operations focused rather than purely research. Holmquist said the company expects to collaborate with state programs and national-lab partners to build supply-chain capacity and attract complementary startups.

Quantinuum did not provide an exact hiring timetable or a dollar amount for state incentives; those details were discussed at a high level during the panel but were not specified as formal commitments. The company said more site and program details will be shared as plans firm up.