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Los Alamos-based company UbiQD has acquired a 5,000-square-foot building aimed at increasing the company鈥檚 ongoing manufacturing expansion efforts.

Officials with UbiQD, founded in 2014, said the move will create 10 high-tech jobs through 2028 and provide additional space for future equipment and operations.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very committed to staying here,鈥� Hunter McDaniel, CEO and founder of UbiQD, said. 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 just a startup that is trying to make a quick buck 鈥� we鈥檙e building community out here.鈥�

The move to add more space is a big win for UbiQD, which last year signed an agreement with Arizona-based First Solar to implement its quantum-dot technology into First Solar鈥檚 thin-film bifacial photovoltaic solar panels.

Since its founding, the company has forged partnerships with customers across multiple industries, transforming nanoscale, three-dimensional structures known as quantum dots into sunlight-harvesting machines.

The new $800,000 building, located adjacent to its two existing facilities in Los Alamos, was supported in part by Los Alamos County, which provided a low-interest loan to enable purchase through the Local Economic Development Act program.

The facility previously housed Rocksmith Precision Machining, a local business that served Los Alamos National Laboratory and regional customers for more than 30 years.

The county鈥檚 support for the new UbiQD facility builds on its contribution, which at the time created local jobs and helped the company pay off one of the original buildings it still occupies, McDaniel said.

Over the past 12 years, McDaniel鈥檚 initial idea 鈥� focused solely on development 鈥� has evolved into a rapidly growing business. The company has increased its quantum-dot production, thanks to $20 million in Series B funding it raised last year.

The new facility will allow the company to continue growing in food and energy markets.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gotten to the point where we haven鈥檛 been able to keep up with the demand for the materials,鈥� McDaniel said. 鈥淎nd so our focus over the last year or two has been on scale-up, and we have increased our production significantly.鈥�

McDaniel said commercial facilities like the one UbiQD just bought are in high demand, making them difficult to lease and even purchase.

But the new building gives the company more autonomy and allows its 鈥渞oots to go deeper into the soil,鈥� McDaniel said.

鈥淏y owning the building, that gives us the ability to, first of all, make our own decisions for ourselves, so we don鈥檛 have to go ask the landlord,鈥� McDaniel said. 鈥淪econd, we鈥檒l own those investments, so if we put $1 million into building improvements, that鈥檚 our asset.鈥�

Keelin Fisher is a business reporter for the Journal. You can reach her at kfisher@abqjournal.com.