New Mexico cybersecurity leader calls for quantum safeguards while state inks deal with major player

New Mexico cybersecurity officials told state lawmakers Thursday to prioritize updating digital security systems across state agencies before other countries develop a high-tech quantum computer.

The admonition came the same day Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a partnership with Japan-based tech company Fujitsu to establish a quantum computing research center in New Mexico. The timing of both meetings emphasized how quickly quantum computing is developing in government and business.

Government agencies typically store sensitive data — such as birth and death records, juvenile records and health records — in encrypted systems. Standard encryption typically deters hackers by requiring a computer to solve a series of complex math problems one at a time. Experts believe that quantum computers, however, will be able to solve several complex math problems at once, rendering standard encryption useless.

Officials in the U.S. and China, in particular, for years have been locked in a race to beat the other to a quantum breakthrough and gain an edge in obtaining the other nation’s state secrets.

State lawmakers this year have often discussed how New Mexico, which has attracted several high-profile quantum companies in recent years and is home to multiple national laboratories, can lead the country’s efforts. The Quantum World Congress in September recognized just two states — New Mexico and Illinois — as national leaders in quantum technology investment.

Todd Baran, general counsel for the New Mexico Office of Cybersecurity, on Thursday spoke to state legislators on the interim Science, Technology and Telecommunications Committee in Los Alamos. He said it’s critical to create security systems that could fend off a hostile country with quantum computing technology as soon as possible.

“The malicious actors are going to harvest this data today and then, four or five years from now when the tool becomes available to decrypt it, they’re going to decrypt it,” he said.

Baran added that the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology has set deadlines for adopting newer encryption methods. By Dec. 31, 2030, many federal systems and federal contractors must make the switch. The goal, he said, is to have all federal systems updated and to “retire” the old encryption methods by 2035.

Baran told lawmakers that the Legislature will need to pass a bill in the upcoming legislative session that gives his office the authority to mandate these changes across state agencies. Currently, he said, his office doesn’t have that power.

While Baran was speaking in Los Alamos, Lujan Grisham was inking a memorandum of understanding in Santa Fe with Fujitsu. The corporation has worked with New Mexico State University since 2025 and will now work with the state to build the state’s capacity for quantum computing hardware and software and to support education and workforce programs.

Under the agreement, Fujitsu’s center would focus on training scientists and engineers in addition to creating internships and research opportunities for students.

The governor said the partnership is a key step in ensuring New Mexico continues to lead the nation’s quantum efforts.

“I want New Mexico to be a leader in quantum. I’m banking that that is the future of innovation and investment in the state,” Lujan Grisham said at a news conference in the Roundhouse Thursday morning. “There are only two states in the World Quantum Conference that are identified as leading and ready, and that’s Illinois and New Mexico. And I’m bullish about us winning.”

Fujitsu Chief Technology Officer Vivek Mahajan, speaking alongside Lujan Grisham, said he believed New Mexico’s universities and national labs made the state the natural choice for such a partnership.

“You have world-class labs here, really good university talent,” he said. “And I think the government here has created an excellent ecosystem.”