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Diraq expands to New Mexico with a quantum lab for silicon chips

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September 29, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Diraq will establish a new research and development laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, equipped with Maybell cryogenic equipment for advanced device characterization. The expansion, supported by matching funds from the state as part of the DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative’s Stage B, aims to accelerate the company’s progress toward building utility-scale quantum computers.

“Roadrunner Quantum Lab is focused on bringing quantum computing to market,” said Diraq Founder and CEO Andrew Dzurak, “and their commitment to commercialization closely mirrors our own.” Diraq is focused on silicon-based processors, targeting millions of qubits on a single chip to meet customer demand.

Roadrunner Quantum Lab Supports Diraq’s Device Characterization

The lab, expected to be operational by year’s end, represents a significant expansion of Diraq’s U.S. footprint, complementing existing operations in Palo Alto, Chicago and Los Angeles. Diraq’s participation in Stage B of the QBI program highlights the company’s progress in developing practical quantum processors. The New Mexico investment will build equipment and infrastructure vital to the lab’s operations. This ambition is fueled by Diraq’s unique approach of fabricating spin qubits directly on standard CMOS foundry lines, a method that uses existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure. A dedicated measurement engineering team will be established in Albuquerque, adding specialized U.S.-based capability in quantum device testing and characterization. Further growth is planned as operations scale research and development capabilities.

We’re building quantum computing processors based on silicon because that’s the most economical and scalable way to reach the many millions of qubits that our customers will require.

Diraq’s space within Roadrunner Quantum Lab will include Maybell cryogenic equipment that supports device characterization and other research and development activities. The State of New Mexico is supporting Diraq’s expansion into the state as part of its partnership with the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), a federal initiative to verify and validate utility-scale quantum computing. “Diraq’s decision to build here is more proof that New Mexico has the talent, the labs and the infrastructure quantum companies need to go from research to real-world scale,” said TIO Director Nora Meyers Sackett, highlighting the state’s existing strengths in the field.

Founded in 2022 as a spin-out from UNSW Sydney, Diraq has quickly become a significant player in the space, raising over US$140 million to date. “We’re building quantum computing processors based on silicon because that’s the most economical and scalable way to reach the many millions of qubits that our customers will require.”

Diraq’s decision to build here is more proof that New Mexico has the talent, the labs and the infrastructure quantum companies need to go from research to real-world scale.

Nora Meyers Sackett, TIO Director

DARPA QBI Partnership Funds New Mexico’s Quantum Ecosystem

This phase focuses on validating utility-scale quantum computing, and the new laboratory will house specialized equipment for advancing Diraq’s silicon-spin qubit platform. The company intends to scale the Albuquerque team as operations expand, signifying a long-term commitment to the region and its growing quantum ecosystem. New Mexico’s investment in the Roadrunner Quantum Lab demonstrates a commitment to encouraging a quantum ecosystem, attracting companies focused on scaling quantum technologies. Diraq’s approach of building quantum computing processors on silicon, aiming for millions of qubits, is predicated on achieving economical scalability, a goal that aligns with the state’s vision for a robust quantum industry.

We’re excited to welcome Diraq to the Roadrunner Quantum Lab as the company expands its U.S. research and development capabilities.

David Kistin, Director of the Roadrunner Quantum Lab
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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