Economy & Economic Development  February 20, 2025

State offers $4M+ in incentives for Broomfield quantum company’s expansion

DENVER — A growing quantum company could be eligible for more than $4.3 million in state tax incentives if it decides to expand its operations in Broomfield.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission extended an incentives offer to the unnamed quantum company, referred to in Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade documents as Project Q-Chips, during its Thursday meeting. 

It is the commission’s practice not to identify companies that OEDIT is recruiting until incentives are accepted.

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“The company behind Project Q-Chips is a company in the quantum sector. Due to the nature of the company, further identification would jeopardize the company’s confidentiality. The company is planning an expansion of its business due to recent growth. In addition to Colorado, the company is considering Minnesota,” an OEDIT memo said. 

“Financial support and access to talent” are major factors in the company’s decision on where to expand, OEDIT said. 

Project Q-Chips “will strengthen Colorado’s position as a national leader in quantum technologies, not only through our academic and government institutions — such as the University of Colorado’s CUbit programs and translational quantum research seed grants — but also by expanding support for larger, more established companies in the quantum industry,” an OEDIT document said. “By providing critical resources beyond research and access to capital programs, the (state’s job-growth tax incentive program) serves as one of the few tools available to help commercially viable quantum companies thrive in Colorado. This ensures the company remains competitive in the rapidly advancing quantum sector.”

To receive the roughly $4.3 million in tax credits over eight years, the company must create 195 new jobs at an average annual wage of $145,990.

Michelle Hadwiger, OEDIT deputy director and director of global business development, told the EDC that, based on information provided by Project Q-Chips, OEDIT staff “cannot conclude that the financial review supports the company’s potential to create 195 new jobs,” as required to realize the full tax credit. “However the majority owner (of the company behind Project Q-Chips) is a very large, publicly traded multinational conglomerate. They’re backing this company, and therefore we believe that this project can be executed.”

Since the tax incentives are performance-based, the jobs must be created before credits are issued. That’s why the EDC often approves incentives offers even if OEDIT staff are dubious about a company’s ability to fulfill their end of the deal.

While the company behind Project Q-Chips was not identified there is at least one Broomfield-based quantum firm that could fit the bill: Quantinuum LLC.

The company is growing quickly, and, according to its website, has more than 500 employees. The Project Q-Chip company has 538 workers, according to OEDIT.

Quantinuum spun out of Honeywell International Inc. (Nasdaq: HON), a company that maintains a controlling stake in Quantinuum and can accurately be described as “a very large, publicly traded multinational conglomerate.”

Project Q-Chip is also considering the Minneapolis metro for expansion, Hadwiger said, and Quantinuum has connections to that area. Quantinuum grew out of a Honeywell division that was largely based in Minneapolis, according to a 2021 report from the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Quantinuum in January announced that it would open a new research-and-development center in New Mexico.

BizWest reached out to a Quantinuum representative for comment on Thursday morning. This story will be updated with any additional information provided by the company. 

Other incentives offered Thursday by the EDC for projects in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado included $678,732 for Project Skyline2025, a backpack company eyeing the Denver metro area (which includes Broomfield and Boulder counties) for an expansion project that could create 50 jobs; and $631,508 for Project Dragon, a clean-energy plant in Weld County that could create 35 new jobs.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission extended an incentives offer to the unnamed quantum company, referred to in Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade documents as Project Q-Chips, during its Thursday meeting. 

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A Maryland native, Lucas has worked at news agencies from Wyoming to South Carolina before putting roots down in Colorado.
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