PsiQuantum is planning a multibillion-dollar investment in Chicago to build the nation’s first commercially useful quantum computer, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office on Thursday. The Palo Alto, California-based company will be the anchor tenant of the state’s future quantum campus at the former U.S.
Steel South Works site, breathing new life into the long troubled — and vacant — property. The campus will create an estimated $20 billion in economic impact over the next decade, according to the city. It would also create more than 175,000 jobs, ranging from maintenance positions to the sciences.
“That’s substantial,” Johnson said. “This is gonna be life-changing for not just this region of the city, the city of Chicago as a whole, but the global economy around technology.” Johnson’s administration had crafted an incentive package to lure PsiQuantum to the South Works site, Crain’s Chicago Business first reported last month.
At the time, PsiQuantum — which is also building the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia — was considering the former Texaco refinery in Lockport for its campus. PsiQuantum did not return requests for comment. The incentive package pulls from earmarked for economic development and housing projects.
The city is also working with Cook County to certify the site for Class 8 property tax incentives, which are designed to encourage industrial and commercial development in areas of the county.