IBM will bring innovation hub, 750 new jobs to Chicago’s quantum park

CHICAGO — A new delivery hub will be the latest addition to a state-backed quantum computing park in Chicago, bringing with it 750 new full-time jobs, company and state officials announced Wednesday.

Gov. JB Pritzker announced IBM will open its FutureNow Chicago innovation and delivery hub on the planned 128-acre Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park campus on Chicago’s South Side. The jobs would be in supercomputing fields, such as cybersecurity, AI and data science.

State officials, especially Pritzker, see the quantum park as a transformative hub for quantum tech-related businesses, researchers and government programs. Construction began in September, with $500 million in state funding. The first phase is anticipated to conclude in 2027.

“The partnership that we’re talking about today is among the first of many steps to ensure that our quantum ecosystem is not just about innovation, but about opportunity,” Pritzker said.

In addition to offering 750 new full-time jobs over five years, IBM will work with City Colleges of Chicago to design an apprenticeship program supporting 500 apprentices, with a commitment to hire some graduates for full-time positions, according to the governor’s office.

“IBM is accelerating its engagement with our city and in our state, and we just can’t thank them enough,” Pritzker said.

The company will in turn be subject to tax breaks under the state’s EDGE, or Economic Development for a Growing Economy, tax credit program. Those would amount to $19 million over 10 years.

South Side benefits

Through key partnerships with Illinois colleges and universities, Pritzker and IBM hope to attract young, local talent to long-term careers in transformative, advanced quantum technology fields and reap much of the economic benefit in Illinois.

“With a transformation that’s this big, I intend to make sure that our working families and communities are at the core of the economic success that these changes are going to bring,” Pritzker said.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who earned his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1991, echoed the governor’s sentiment and touted the economic opportunities the FutureNow center and new apprenticeship initiatives could bring.

“All of these partnerships across all of the programs — from co-ops, interns, full-time hires — is really going to help cultivate the talent and deliver growth to the state and for the region,” Krishna said. “We are excited to help deliver these business outcomes, and the goal is to make Illinois a better place to live, to work and to do business.”

Xochitl Flores, the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development’s bureau chief, thanked Krishna and IBM for choosing to invest in Chicago and expressed optimism about the long-term economic benefits.

“This is not just about this one-time investment,” Flores said. “This is a foundation for long-term inclusive growth.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson framed the issue as delivering overdue economic stimulus to underserved communities on Chicago’s South Side and called on residents to seize the opportunity these investments will bring.

“This is an opportunity for you to invest in yourself and embark upon a new path,” Johnson said.

City Colleges partnership

City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado lauded the initiatives as a “Chicago Moonshot,” saying he was hopeful the inclusive nature of CCC’s partnership with IBM will set a standard for the industry and be adopted elsewhere.

“This is a moonshot,” Salgado said. “It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of the IQMP and connect employers to highly skilled pipelines that come from City Colleges of Chicago.”

Salgado went on to state that students would be compensated directly for participation in the planned yearlong apprenticeship program, with the hope that they would be hired for full-time positions.

Funds for these apprenticeships will be provided by CCC’s philanthropic partnerships, with the goal of raising $7 million for the first two to three years of the apprenticeship program by the end of this year, Matthew Bruce, executive director of the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, said.

Dr. Roni-Nicole Facen, principal and CEO of St. Francis de Sales High School, a private high school on Chicago’s South Side, concluded the event by offering historical context and underscoring the urgency of economic investment in the community.

“If you look back at photos from the 50s, 60s and 70s, you see that South Chicago was a booming metropolis,” Facen said. “When I look at those pictures, it has become my push, my lifelong vision to see us return back there.”

The campus and the recently announced FutureNow center are expected to open their doors in 2028.

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.

Aidan Klineman is an undergraduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.