For companies looking for unique business environments for new or expanding operations, New Mexico is offering unique competitive advantages: a strong value proposition and a pro-business environment. Companies across a range of industries and sizes are choosing a New Mexico business location to thrive, for everything from cutting-edge science and engineering to agriculture and food production to manufacturing and logistics. New Mexico has made it a point to be competitive.
New Mexico is located in the path of growth in the southern portion of the Mountain Region, an area that has seen more robust economic expansion than other regions of the U.S. The state’s location allows it to be strategically connected with all of the transportation infrastructure companies require and offers excellent border solutions with Mexico.
In the following section, we’ll highlight some of New Mexico’s most recent economic successes.
New Mexico and DARPA Forge Quantum Partnership
In early September, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to establish the Quantum Frontier Project, a new partnership designed to accelerate the development, testing and validation of emerging quantum technologies. The agreement is part of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). The Quantum Frontier Project will leverage the state’s universities, private-sector innovators and world-class national laboratories to expand research, engineering and testing efforts that directly support QBI’s ambitious mission: determining whether utility-scale quantum computing can be achieved by 2033. Under the framework agreement, DARPA and New Mexico may provide matching contributions of up to $120 million total over four years. Investments will be directed toward research, infrastructure and independent verification efforts that advance QBI and the Quantum Frontier Project.
Navitas Global Reviving Long-Shuttered Ethanol Plant
Navitas Global, an advanced ethanol production facility in Portales announced in July that it has been awarded Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) assistance to add jobs and expand operations through a program administered by the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD). Navitas specializes in converting whey derivatives, a sugar-rich byproduct of dairy processing, into advanced biofuels and high-protein animal feed. LEDA has pledged $800,000 to Navitas for the creation of 31 new jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $1.9 million and a capital investment of up to $42 million. The Navitas facility is located in the city’s industrial park at 1827 S. Industrial Drive. The plant was built in 1984 but has been inactive since Abengoa Bioenergy suspended ethanol production in 2012. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Pacific Fusion Pursues Research Facility in Albuquerque
Pacific Fusion announced in July that the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state to pursue the siting of a research and development facility in Albuquerque. The company expects to make a final decision in the fall of 2025, contingent upon successful site selection and finalization of state incentives. The company intends to build a state-of-the-art research facility known as the Demonstration System that would prove a critical fusion milestone called net facility gain, where more energy is produced from a fusion reaction than the total energy stored in the system.
Demonstrating these conditions is an essential step toward eventually delivering carbon-free electricity to the grid. Upon finalization, the project would represent a capital investment of approximately $1 billion and bring more than 200 long-term jobs to the state, along with hundreds more construction jobs, workforce development programs and regional economic activity.
New Mexico Accelerates Global Partnerships with NMexus Launch
In May of 2025, New Mexico economic development groups hosted local and international business leaders for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the NMexus Center, a new business accelerator established to boost foreign direct investment in the state. Located in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol innovation district, the accelerator is a first-of-its-kind commercialization center for companies from India, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, equipping them with the tools necessary to successfully expand operations in New Mexico.
The May announcement included news that seven companies from India and Oman would comprise the first cohort moving into the center. The NMexus Center is equipped to serve up to 40 companies each year. It is expected to generate nearly 100 jobs in its first year and as many as 1,500 jobs within five years. The combined economic impact of the center over five years is estimated at more than $400 million.
New Mexico Creates “Shovel-Ready” Bills to Boost Business Growth
In April, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed two senate bills into law to expedite the creation of shovel-ready sites for businesses looking to relocate or expand in New Mexico.
The Site-Readiness Act (SB 169) and the Utility Pre-Deployment Act (SB 170) are designed to work together in response to the need for designated economic development sites that are strategically located to become ready for businesses to move in quickly and with less expense.
SB 169 established the Strategic Economic Development Site Advisory Committee, which will review applications from local communities and property owners for site certification. Certified sites will qualify for pre-development funding for utility improvements, engineering and planning, site preparation, environmental remediation and housing analysis.
Because power is a critical piece of the infrastructure puzzle, companion bill SB 170 focuses on speeding up the regulatory review process for utilities approval to allow for earlier investments in infrastructure on high-potential sites. The bill also allows the New Mexico Finance Authority to provide low-interest loans to rural electric cooperatives to fund the projects so rural parts of the state can better compete for jobs.
thyssenkrupp Materials NA Opens Metals Manufacturing Facility in Santa Teresa
In March 2025, thyssenkrupp Materials NA, a materials distribution and manufacturing solutions company, announced the expansion of its operations with a new facility in Santa Teresa. The investment strengthens its ability to serve power distribution customers across North America and Mexico while optimizing the supply chain network. This expansion was supported by the New Mexico EDD, which is providing economic incentives to help fuel job growth and workforce development.
Copper and Brass Sales, a division of thyssenkrupp Materials North America, is leasing an 86,000-square-foot facility for the metals manufacturing services used in power distribution components. The Santa Teresa facility will focus on manufacturing solutions tailored to customer-specific needs, including complex cutting, kitting and just-in-time (JIT) services.
Quantinuum Announces Plans to Build a New Quantum R&D Center in New Mexico
In early 2025, quantum computing company Quantinuum announced plans to open a new location in New Mexico. The site will support ongoing collaborative efforts to advance the photonics technologies critical to furthering Quantinuum’s product development. Photonics, the science and technology of light, is essential to the advancement of Quantinuum’s trapped ion quantum computing technologies, which use light to control and manipulate qubits.
Quantinuum’s New Mexico location is expected to create high-paying jobs and drive economic growth. Quantinuum has a longstanding history of collaboration with experts from the national laboratories in New Mexico, such as Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory and universities such as The University of New Mexico in showcasing the performance of the company’s trapped ion quantum computing hardware.
Mesa Quantum Technologies Is the First Recipient of State Quantum Grant
In April of 2025, the New Mexico Economic Development Department, through its Office of Strategy, Science & Technology, awarded $100,000 in competitive non-dilutive grant funding to Mesa Quantum Systems, Inc. in the inaugural round of the state’s Quantum Technologies Award Pilot Program. Launched in December 2024, the program is a competitive, state-funded grant awarding non-dilutive funds to early-stage companies working in quantum technologies located in New Mexico or establishing a presence with employees in New Mexico.
Mesa Quantum, a Colorado-based company, will use the state funds to establish a presence in New Mexico, hiring and further developing Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) technology in collaboration with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Sandia National Labs. Mesa Quantum is also developing the next generation of chip-scale quantum devices for advanced position, navigation and timing (PNT) applications. T&ID
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