Largest Quantum Computer Plant Set to Transform Former US Steel Site

A game-changing high-tech development for the City of Chicago and State of Illinois will see California-based PsiQuantum build the largest quantum computer facility in the U.S. in the southeast corner of the city.

The long-abandoned but environmentally remediated 400-acre former U.S. Steel South Works site is also being converted into a high-tech R&D campus, which PsiQuantum will helm in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. No other industries have yet committed.

The state is wagering the site will make the region a “thought leader” in high-tech intellectual research, says Dr. Harley Johnson, inaugural director of the project managed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Grainger College of Engineering. Johnson is the college’s associate dean for research.

“It’s an opportunity for the state to lead in the development of a really exciting technology,” he said, adding this will be a “legacy” to the intellectual capital already laid by Illinois’s various universities and national microelectronic labs.

An aerial rendering of PsiQuantum’s computer campus on reclaimed former U.S. Steel site. PsiQuantum

PsiQuantum said in a release that the project “will catalyze the state’s highly developed quantum ecosystem,” including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, the Chicago Quantum Exchange, Argonne and Fermi national labs, DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project Agency, and others.

It’s estimated the development will have a $20 billion economic impact over a decade and create thousands of jobs in computing and related fields.

The state admits it is taking a “leap of faith” in assisting the development, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in announcing a $300 million investment in the high-tech park. The City of Chicago and surrounding Cook County have also kicked in $5 million each. Property tax incentives are also being considered.

“This was a combined effort that took all of us not only believing in the potential of this project but putting our time and our investment behind that belief,” Pritzker said in a statement.

PsiQuantum CEO and co-founder Jeremy O’Brien said, “Governor Pritzker and Illinois understand what’s needed to unlock quantum computing’s potential, and we’re thrilled to partner with them and anchor the state’s quantum strategy with the first utility-scale quantum computer in the United States at this iconic location.”

Quantum computing is expected to have a deeply positive impact on a myriad aspects of daily life, enabling “highly precise results that can never be solved by conventional computers,” the company says.

Industries like agriculture, pharma, energy, financial services, and manufacturing should all benefit.

The facility is being developed by Related Midwest and national realtor CRG. Chicago’s Lamar Johnson Collaborative is designing the first phase of the park. The general contractor is Chicago-based Clayco Inc.

Johnson said there are dozens of quantum computing sites in existence at various stages, including startups and Fortune 100 companies.

“This facility that we’re planning by some standards would be the largest in the country once it’s complete.”

It will not only serve PsiQuantum but be a shared plant “which is being created for the benefit of lots of other companies which we expect to locate here.”

PsiQuantum will be the anchor tenant with its 300,000-square-foot Quantum Computer Operations Center with additional land for expansion.

The overall site bordering Lake Michigan is one of the largest contiguous infill properties in the U.S. Besides PsiQuantum, the campus will include cryo facilities and equipment labs and collaborative research and office spaces for private companies and universities.

A construction start hasn’t yet been announced, but Johnson said the developer has set a “really ambitious goal” of 18 months to two years for completion. And “we expect the park to continue to build out for some time after that.”

The development is still in the permitting stages. Johnson said construction shouldn’t be particularly complicated on the serviced land, which has taken decades to turn around. “There’s going to be some infrastructure and some equipment that goes in there. That will be the really complicated part of the construction itself.”

But a citizens group has already raised a red flag. The Alliance of the Southeast wants more information about community benefits like jobs and access to existing neighborhood parks and the lake itself. It wants to know the environmental impact of coolant water’s flow into neighboring Lake Michigan.

In an interview, executive director Amalia NietoGomez mentioned the impact on the “aquatic environment,” including algae blooms. But if water is kept in storage ponds, “This is a former brownfield with toxins on the site” despite remediation “back in the ‘90s.”

Johnson said the city and state are largely dealing with these questions but that proponents “are engaged on this ”and “a lot of those issues have been addressed in our planning.”

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