Illinois Backs $500 Million Chicago Quantum Hub as PsiQuantum Prepares First Utility-Scale Machine
Updated
Updated · Benzinga · Jun 21
Illinois Backs $500 Million Chicago Quantum Hub as PsiQuantum Prepares First Utility-Scale Machine
3 articles · Updated · Benzinga · Jun 21
Summary
$500 million in state support is underpinning Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s push to make Chicago a quantum-computing center, with PsiQuantum as the anchor tenant.
PsiQuantum is building what could become the world’s first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in a 65,000-square-foot warehouse that Fast Company said was nearing completion.
Hardware for the first machine is due to move to Chicago next year, and interim CEO Victor Peng described that step as “the end of the beginning.”
Six tenants, including IBM, are already part of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, which Pritzker says is creating demand for software developers, cryogenic engineers and fabrication technicians.
Pritzker framed the bet as a bid to stop a repeat of the 1990s, when Illinois-linked tech talent behind companies such as Netscape and YouTube left for Silicon Valley.