South Side Quantum Campus Gets City Council Green Light As IBM Announces It Will Make Site Its Home
Computing giant IBM announced Thursday it will set up shop on a sprawling quantum campus at the former U.S. Steel South Works site, one day after Chicago City Council approved a rezoning request for the project, setting the stage for a construction start early next year.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that IBM plans to make the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park its permanent home with the construction of the National Quantum Algorithm Center on the South Shore site.
The center will be fueled by IBM’s modular quantum computer and aims to advance the exploration of quantum-centric supercomputing across industries, the governor said in a press release.
“We’re making Illinois the global quantum capital and the center for job growth in the quantum industry — a true center of innovation with the power to solve the world’s most pressing and complex challenges and create jobs and investment for our state,” Pritzker said. “The groundbreaking National Quantum Algorithm Center in Illinois represents a transformative step forward, whose impact will reverberate throughout the tech industry and beyond."
On Wednesday, the city council unanimously voted to greenlight Related Midwest and CRG's rezoning request for the 440 acres of vacant lakefront land between East 79th Street and the Calumet River. The stretch of land includes the 128 acres planned for the IQMP as well as space for expansion.
The developers plan to start on the project’s first phase, which will include about 88K SF of office, in February or March, according to Block Club Chicago. The target date for the campus to be fully operational is 2027, the outlet reported.
Developers were granted the right to ultimately build as much as 59.3M SF of buildings, Crain's Chicago Business reported. That is larger than the combined size of other megadevelopments closer to downtown at The 78, Lincoln Yards and the former Michael Reese Hospital.
PsiQuantum, a Silicon Valley startup angling to build the first “utility-scale” quantum computer, is the campus’ other anchor tenant. PsiQuantum will occupy 300K SF at the campus and hire at least 150 new people to operate the facility.
Illinois is offering $200M to PsiQuantum in grants, workforce development assistance, a low-interest loan and other incentives in exchange for a minimum investment of $1B by the company.
“This is a one-of-its-kind tech park,” Brian DeMarco, associate director for the IQMP, told Bisnow in August. “I don't know anywhere else in the world that's doing something at this scale … It positions Illinois right at the front of the pack in the world for being able to support the industry but then also bring those jobs and bring those companies to the state.”
IBM's new center will initially operate out of Discovery Partners Institute and the University of Chicago, and its computer will be at Hyde Park Labs. As construction on the IQMP moves further along, IBM and IQMP aim to transition the computer to a permanent home on IQMP’s campus.
“We are proud of the progress we have made to bring useful quantum technology to the world, and this new partnership with the State of Illinois and its thriving innovation ecosystem brings us one step closer to defining the future of computing,” Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM, said in the release.
UPDATE, DEC. 12, 6:30 P.M. CT: This story was updated with new information about IBM joining the quantum park.
