TECHNOLOGY
Maybell Quantum becomes third company to join Roadrunner鈥檚 quantum lab
Denver startup will bring cryogenic hardware and staff to the Downtown Albuquerque space
Maybell Quantum, a Denver startup, is the latest quantum computing company setting up shop in Downtown Albuquerque.
Maybell said Monday it will operate out of the Roadrunner Quantum Lab in Albuquerque, bringing an on-the-ground team to help companies operate its cryogenic quantum computing equipment.
The idea behind the lab, managed by Roadrunner Venture Studios, is to make available expensive hardware to quantum founders. Atoms need delicate environments to achieve superposition as qubits, as opposed to bits in traditional computing. When in superposition, the atoms are a state of both zeros and ones simultaneously, unlocking powerful computing potential.
Maybell鈥檚 dilution refrigerator facilities are engineered to run multiple companies at once, with room for five or more teams and 20 to 30 researchers across dedicated lab environments. Maybell鈥檚 cryogenic systems provide the ultra-low temperatures required to create and maintain quantum states in certain materials.
Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell, a startup backed by more than $75 million in venture funding, said in a statement that making the company鈥檚 equipment available to others 鈥渓owers barriers to entry and helps promising technologies reach the market faster.鈥�
鈥淭oo many quantum founders burn years 鈥� and millions of dollars 鈥� assembling the infrastructure they need to prove their technology works,鈥� Tillemann-Dick said. 鈥淣ew Mexico is taking a different approach by bringing those resources together in one place.鈥�
Roadrunner is an Albuquerque firm that invests in early-stage deep technology startups.
Last year, the state awarded Roadrunner $25 million to create a quantum venture studio campus in Downtown Albuquerque, where quantum computing companies and enthusiasts can test their ideas. That money is a part of a $450 million overall investment in quantum computing by New Mexico.
Two other companies have also provided Roadrunner鈥檚 lab with the needed infrastructure. Qunnect set up the nation鈥檚 first open-access quantum network. And QuEra is setting up a $4 million quantum computing testbed at the Roadrunner lab.
The testbed includes a photonics and optics testing center, a laboratory housed in a 鈥渃leanroom-adjacent鈥� environment where quantum scientists can trap atoms using lasers. QuEra is also housing servers to support hybrid quantum computing with classical computers.
In other words: Build it, and they will come.
鈥淲e made a promise to New Mexico that if we built the infrastructure, the best quantum companies would follow,鈥� said Adam Hammer, CEO and co-founder of Roadrunner. 鈥淢aybell proves that bet was right.鈥�
Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach him at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.
