Sandia National Laboratories

What Sandia National Laboratories does

Sandia National Laboratories is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) operated under management contract DE-NA-0003525 by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC (NTESS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International. Established in 1949 as the engineering arm of the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise, Sandia operates from its primary campus near Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico and a secondary campus in Livermore, California, with a workforce exceeding 10,000. Its mission spans nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, national security, energy systems resilience, advanced manufacturing, high-performance and quantum computing, and microgrid/autonomous energy controls.

The laboratory's technical portfolio includes unique physical assets such as the Z Machine pulsed-power accelerator and the National Solar Thermal Test Facility, paired with proprietary software products including the Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT), QuESt 2.0 energy storage analytics, and the MOSAIC AI-driven microgrid controller. Sandia has validated externally developed technologies — Quantinuum's Helios 98-qubit quantum computer (99.7% single-qubit fidelity) and NextSilicon's Maverick-2 runtime-reconfigurable accelerator (4x performance at half the power of NVIDIA GPUs for stockpile simulations) — and operates proprietary R&D including the NeuroFEM neuromorphic computing algorithm, microwave-based lithium-ion battery cathode upcycling (7 days to 2 hours, 95% recovery), and the CRAFT 3D printing technique. Its HPC roadmap under the Tri-Labs ASC Program targets 40x performance over the El Capitan exascale system via Cerebras WSE-2.

Sandia's revenue model is federal appropriations and cost-reimbursable R&D contracts under the Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) framework; revenue is not publicly disclosed and pricing is governed by federal acquisition regulations. Its customer base is concentrated in U.S. federal agencies — primarily the DOE/NNSA, with secondary engagement from the DOD, NASA, and other federal entities — augmented by Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), technology licensing (SolarForge in 140 countries, TAOS trajectory software on 84% of U.S. commercial rocket launches), and academic/industry partnerships. Distribution occurs through direct federal contracting, technology transfer programs, and workforce development initiatives such as the Quantum Technician Bootcamp with Central New Mexico Community College.

Name

Sandia National Laboratories

Legal name

National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

Website

https://sandia.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Sandia National Laboratories is a Department of Energy FFRDC operated by NTESS (a Honeywell subsidiary) under contract with NNSA, delivering nuclear weapons stewardship, advanced computing, energy security, and quantum research primarily for U.S. federal agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

National Security Research and Development (Federal Laboratory)

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Science, Technology & Innovation Administration (National R&D Policy) (BPAIAAAK)

Keywords

• Nuclear weapons stewardship
• National security research
• Advanced energy systems
• Quantum computing R&D
• High performance computing

Headquarters

HQ city

Albuquerque

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Federal R&D Contracts: Sandia operates as a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility funded primarily through Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration contracts. Revenue comes from federal appropriations and cost-reimbursable research contracts with various government agencies including DOE, DOD, NASA, and other federal entities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sandia National Laboratories is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) that delivers science and engineering solutions across nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, national security, energy systems, advanced computing, and quantum information science. The laboratory provides R&D services, experimental facilities, and open-source software tools to federal agencies including DOE, NNSA, DOD, and NASA, with selected technology licensed commercially through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).

Product overview

Sandia National Laboratories operates as a multimission research and development laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Rather than offering commercial products, Sandia provides research capabilities, open-source software tools, and technical programs across energy, national security, and quantum computing domains. Key offerings include the Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) for microgrid design optimization, QuESt 2.0 for energy storage analytics, the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative for solar industry modeling, and the MOSAIC AI-based microgrid controller. Sandia's research infrastructure includes the National Solar Thermal Test Facility, SWiFT wind research facility, and LIGHT Lab for wave energy. The laboratory also conducts quantum computing research through the Quantum Systems Accelerator partnership and develops advanced manufacturing capabilities through its Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation (CAMINO).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) Open-source decision support software for microgrid designers that uses search algorithms to identify and characterize alternative microgrid designs based on user-defined inputs and objectives such as cost, performance, and reliability.
• QuESt 2.0 Open-source Python software for energy storage analytics providing centralized access to multiple tools and improved data analytics for energy storage system analysis, designed to democratize access to energy storage analysis capabilities.
• MOSAIC Microgrid Controller AI-based microgrid controller enabling autonomous operation of microgrids and microgrid assets under dynamic conditions, with long-horizon control balancing economics with power delivery.
• Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) A Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in partnership with Sandia, focused on building scalable, reliable quantum systems and achieving 1,000-fold performance gain in quantum computational power by 2030.
• SolarForge Solar Glare Hazard Analysis Tool Solar glare hazard analysis tool licensed commercially and used in 140 countries and at ten of the world's busiest airports with 20,000 analyses performed annually.
• TAOS Trajectory Optimization Software Trajectory optimization software licensed to companies responsible for 84% of U.S. commercial rocket launches in 2023.
• Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation (CAMINO) An unclassified outward-facing hub for expedited design, prototyping, and manufacturing of components for the nuclear security enterprise mission.
• National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) Sandia's primary facility for concentrating solar-thermal research, testing, and development including the Thermal Energy Storage testbed (TESBed) for advancing industrial thermal energy solutions.
• Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) Facility Sandia's dedicated wind energy research facility for testing and validating small-scale wind turbine technologies and distributed wind systems.
• Advanced Materials Lab Enhanced Manufacturing In-house advanced manufacturing capability for rapid production of custom electronic connectors primarily for weapons systems, employing injection molding with 3D-printed tools.

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Varda Space IndustriescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2026Partnership for Prometheus hypersonic flight testing program. Sandia provides thermal protection system materials and testing for W-6 mission reentry experiments at Koonibba Test Range, South Australia.
• Anduril IndustriesflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 May 2026Sandia part of Anduril-led consortium for Golden Dome space-based missile interceptor program under U.S. Space Force. $3.2 billion Space-Based Interceptor program aims to demonstrate integrated interceptor capability by around 2028.
• QuantinuumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Four-year collaboration under Cooperative Research and Development Agreement focused on validating Quantinuum's Helios 98-qubit quantum computer achieving record fidelity rates (99.7% single-qubit, 99.9% two-qubit). Sandia independently assessed performance and developed benchmarking methodology for mid-circuit measurements. Partnership renewed in May 2026.
• NextSiliconcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 February 2026Sandia evaluating NextSilicon's Spectra supercomputer using Maverick-2 runtime-reconfigurable accelerators under the Vanguard program. System demonstrates 4x performance advantage and half the power consumption of NVIDIA GPUs for nuclear stockpile simulation workloads.
• Central New Mexico Community CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 November 2025Partnership with CNM developing Quantum Technician Bootcamp, the first workforce development program of its kind in the U.S. (launched September 2025). Graduates earn starting salaries around $80,000 and are hired by quantum companies including Qunnect.
• Quantum Systems Accelerator ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 November 2025$125 million DOE-funded National Quantum Information Science Research Center over five years. Consortium includes 15 institutions across North America working toward scalable, reliable quantum systems with industry partnerships.
• Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 June 2025DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with $125 million funding over five years. Sandia contributes to trapped-ion quantum computing advances including parallel quantum gate operations and mid-circuit measurement protocols.
• Cerebras SystemscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025Tri-Labs consortium (Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos) awarded multi-year R&D collaboration to Cerebras to achieve 40X performance improvement over El Capitan exascale supercomputer using WSE-2 chip for nuclear stockpile stewardship under ASC Program.
• HyBlend ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021DOE-launched collaboration addressing technical barriers to hydrogen blending in natural gas pipelines through materials compatibility research, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors2 records

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M&A

Investments2 records

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Frequently asked questions about Sandia National Laboratories