'It's A Global Competition': The Rising Stakes Of Illinois' Quantum Push

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park project is coming into sharper focus as its stakeholders position the landmark development to compete on the world stage. 

Nearly a year and a half after the South Chicago project was first announced, Related Midwest and CRG have broken ground and lured several tenants working to develop utility-scale quantum computers to the park.

Hundreds of millions in state investment and the diverse tenant ecosystem have those involved optimistic that IQMP can compete as a worldwide leader in quantum tech, panelists said at Bisnow’s Innovation in Chicago Life Sciences, Quantum Computing and Biotech Summit on Tuesday. 

“It’s a global competition,” said Harley Johnson, director and CEO of the IQMP, at the event held at Hyde Park Labs. “Our hope and our expectation is that a lot of the international organizations would like to have a footprint in the U.S. We want them to do it here.”

Johnson pointed to Europe, Australia and Canada as places well-positioned to compete to become global quantum leaders. 

State lawmakers carved out $500M to support the park’s development when it launched in 2024 alongside anchor tenant PsiQuantum. Some of the leaders in the space have inked deals at the 128-acre former U.S. Steel South Works site since then, including Pasqal, IBM and Diraq. Pascal is based in Paris, and Diraq is based in Sydney. 

Johnson said the park's focus is to bring a diverse mix of the best companies into the project. He said they are hopeful that more than one of these technologies will emerge over the next few years as they succeed in various aspects of quantum computing, which has yet to be proven at this scale. 

“These are four companies that have different technologies for quantum computing, and it's really four of the big five,” Johnson said. “We're really spanning the technology spectrum.”

Chicago Quantum Exchange CEO Kate Timmerman said capital needs for deep tech and emerging startups are met not only locally but also through global partners. A huge component in securing that money is being in the places where those financing sources are located.

Timmerman said both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University are preparing to open offices in San Francisco so Midwest startups can meet with capital providers there. 

“You really have to be out there and constantly be pushing forward to, you know, make sure they are aware of what's going on and not have them just fly in for a day,” she said. 

Illinois leads the country in federal funding for quantum technology, with 27 contracts totaling about $51M, according to a Newmark report on the city’s quantum sector. The funding amount is slightly higher than California at $50M, and well ahead of the other states in the top five, with New Jersey at about $13M, Massachusetts at roughly $10M and New Mexico at $6M. 

P33 CEO Brad Henderson said the current phase of building is akin to early bets on what will be here in five or six years, which he thinks will be a massive global industry. 

“The reality is for all those components of the supply chain and the software, now is the time to build,” Henderson said. “Chicago and Illinois have a chance at all of that if we work together, and that could be transformational for the place that we live.”

IQMP anchor tenant PsiQuantum closed on a $1B funding round in September that Aaron Fluitt, the company’s senior director of technology partnerships, said will enable it to construct larger-scale prototypes and build out cooling technologies. 

The money will also enable PsiQuantum to continue engaging externally with the companies and industries that stand to benefit from quantum computing over the next few years, Fluitt said.

“This capital helps us kind of give us that runway to scale up that technology out toward utility scale,” he said. “That will help us build our intermediate scale machine here in Chicago in a few years, which will occupy the building that's under construction now.”

Fluitt said the company will need a “broad and balanced” workforce, including systems engineers, business teams to showcase the value to potential customers, and people to run cryogenic systems. 

In Chicago, there are already almost 12,000 employees in quantum-related jobs, including engineers and data scientists, according to Newmark. The number of employees in these fields in the city is projected to grow 7% by 2027. 

In the next three to five years, Fluitt wants to deliver on the commitment to build a utility-scale quantum computer in the city. Still, the machine is only useful if the community is ready to utilize it for business purposes and scientific research, he said. 

Fluitt said there’s a tremendous quantum science community in the area and a history of computing projects and ambitious scientific facilities at universities and national laboratories. Critically, he said there’s also a really diverse set of industries that stand to benefit from quantum computation, including finance, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and energy. 

“I believe in first mover advantage, and I think Illinois has that right now,” Fluitt said. “We have to keep moving fast to keep it, but I'm really encouraged by where we are here in Chicago.”