New Mexico Economic Development Attracts Major Investment

©Journal Communications/Sergio Salvador

If your company is scouting its next big expansion, look no further than New Mexico. 

As the state investment officer, Jon Clark oversees the State Investment Council’s nearly $75 billion sovereign wealth fund. The fund acts as a powerhouse for the state, pumping $2.6 billion into New Mexico’s general fund in 2026 alone. 

“That’s money to tackle all sorts of issues,” Clark says. “Over the next 15 years, projections show that distributions from the fund will be the state’s single largest source of revenue.” 

New Mexico got there primarily because of oil and gas revenues, in which the state ranks second nationally. Clark credits state policymakers for deciding to funnel that money into the State Investment Council’s fund, which has more than tripled in the last six years. 

The result, Clark says, is that New Mexico’s lawmakers are looking past the next election cycle and talking more about the Land of Enchantment’s bright long-term future. The State Investment Council anticipates returning $42 billion to the state over the next decade. 

“That’s rare,” he says. “I’ve been working in government for a long time, and I’ve never seen it before. It’s a remarkable trajectory for New Mexico and a unique moment in our state’s history.” 

©Journal Communications/Sergio Salvador

Change of Plan 

In April 2025, the State Investment Council decided to relax a restriction that limited distribution from its venture capital fund to companies headquartered in New Mexico. 

“We decided that what matters most are jobs in New Mexico, and the best way to work toward that end was to work with top-tier venture capital funds from around the country,” he says. 

The catch, Clark notes, is that the New Mexico money comes with an imperative for the recipient national fund to invest a portion in the state. 

“We’ve invested about $2 billion in 30 funds,” Clark says. “We’re leveraging our dollars with an eye toward what the best things are for New Mexico. That $2 billion is just a start. We’re going to hear more and more about top-tier partners looking for amazing projects here in New Mexico.” 

Backed by the State Investment Council, Albuquerque-based Roadrunner Venture Studios exemplifies this success by commercializing cutting-edge research from the state’s national labs and universities into high-tech local startups. This model is helping anchor frontier technology companies directly within New Mexico’s growing innovation ecosystem. 

Courtesy of Castelion

High Conviction 

Another partner that’s already found its New Mexico project is Castelion. Launched in 2022, the California-based company builds hypersonic missiles and saw its first weapon system, Blackbeard, go from the drawing board to test flights in fewer than 18 months. 

“While my co-founders and I were working at SpaceX, we came to understand how critical long-range-strike hypersonic missiles are – and how far behind we are,” says Andrew Kreitz, chief financial officer at Castelion. “Seeing it from a culture/development standpoint, we saw that it didn’t have to be that way – long development timelines and low production rates. 

“Instead, we saw the need to do things differently – build lots of missiles at relatively low cost, with a knowledge of how to do engineering differently,” he says. “We had a high conviction that we’d be able to move the needle and change the way the U.S. makes hypersonic missiles.” 

Courtesy of Castelion

New Mexico Delivers 

Castelion’s next step in that process is Project Ranger. The company announced in late 2025 that it would develop and produce solid-rocket motors in New Mexico on a 1,000- acre campus in Sandoval County. Projections are that Ranger will generate more than $650 million in economic output in the next decade. 

“We looked at where in the United States we could get a lot of land, partner with state and local governments that are really focused on moving fast, and find a talent base to staff hypersonic missile production,” Kreitz says. “New Mexico really stands out, because it delivers on all three. We’ve been incredibly impressed, especially with the talent base here.” 

Kreitz says Castelion is committed to, but will likely exceed, 300 jobs on-site in New Mexico. He says the plan is to have Project Ranger running by the end of 2026, with its first Blackbeard missiles rolling off the line in early 2027. 

“From the beginning, we’ve always seen ourselves as being in a dead sprint to scale production,” Kreitz says. “Nothing we do matters until we ship those missiles to the men and women in this country’s military.”