State, private developers break ground on quantum research park
[October 01, 2025]
By Andrew Adams
CHICAGO — Shovels are in the ground for a highly anticipated project in
South Chicago that its backers, including Gov. JB Pritzker, say will be
transformative to a neighborhood still grappling with the loss of a
steel plant over 30 years ago.
The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, a hub for quantum
tech-related businesses, researchers and government programs, began
construction Tuesday, with this phase of construction anticipated to
conclude in 2027.
“The IQMP and the businesses coming here will generate billions of
dollars in private investment and create thousands of jobs,” Pritzker
said.
California-based PsiQuantum will occupy the first facilities built on
the site. The 9-year-old startup plans to build the first utility-scale
quantum computer in the country.
The development, which is being handled by Related Midwest, will also
include a new 53-bed hospital run by Advocate Health, a major hospital
system in Chicagoland. The plan also includes over 100 acres of new or
upgraded parks.
“Nowhere else in North America do you see this level of infrastructure
investment and collaboration coming together at scale. Illinois is not
catching up in quantum. Illinois is setting the pace,” Harley Johnson,
head of the IQMP project, said Tuesday.
“Today is more than just the start of construction, it is a promise: The
IQMP will be a partner to its neighbors, generator of opportunity for
all, and a place where innovation happening at the highest level meets
the talent and determination of this community.”
The project is at the site of the former U.S. Steel facility South
Works. At its peak, the plant employed 20,000 people and was a major
economic engine for Chicago’s South Side. Since the plant closed in
1992, the area has faced disinvestment and several failed attempts to
redevelop the site, which now includes hundreds of acres of mostly
vacant lakefront parkland.
“We are rebuilding an economic engine for the future and investing in
the people of the Southeast Side,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
What is quantum computing?
Quantum technology takes advantage of quantum mechanics to perform
calculations that would be impossible for traditional computers to do.
Proponents of the technology say it could be used to revolutionize
encryption and cybersecurity, financial modeling, drug development and
navigation technology — among other fields.
“This is about more than one company or one park. It’s about entire new
workforces,” Jeremy O’Brien, CEO of PsiQuantum, said.
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Developers’ rendering of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics
Park. The site’s first phase is slated to finish construction in
2027. (Image provided by IQMP)
The state has spent the past several years investing in the
microelectronics and quantum technology industry. In 2024, the General
Assembly approved a $500 million plan to build a “quantum campus,” which
eventually became the quantum park. The state’s economic development
agency also arranged a tax incentive package worth $200 million to
PsiQuantum, the first “anchor tenant” of the development.
Since the park development was announced last summer, several other
tenants have signed on. They include businesses like IBM, Diraq and
Infleqtion; Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab; major universities
from around the state, and the federal government through the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The project is a key element of the state’s economic development
strategy and is backed by both the Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity and the Illinois Economic Development Corporation — a
private nonprofit with close ties to the state.
“The park will bring high-quality jobs to our state, creating
opportunity and transforming a historically disinvested area, while
paving the way to address some of society’s biggest challenges,”
Illinois EDC Chairman John Atkinson said in a statement.
The project has attracted concern from some neighborhood groups,
however. They worry that the promised jobs may not benefit the local
economy and are concerned about the environmental impacts of such a
large construction project on land with a history of industrial
pollution.
“We want transparency on what’s in the ground. We want protections
during construction, and we want the South Works brownfield cleaned up,”
Anne Holcomb, a local resident and environmental advocate, said in a
statement.
But Chicago alderman who represents the area, Democrat Peter Chico,
maintains that the project will be good for his ward. Priscilla Horton,
the principal of nearby Bowen High School said at the groundbreaking
event she looks forward to opportunities for her students.
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