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⚛️ Chicago’s $20B Quantum Campus

⚛️ Chicago’s $20B Quantum Campus

AND Register for Chicago Tech Events

Landon Campbell
May 13, 2024

58th Edition

📍 This Week’s Lineup:

⚛️ Chicago’s $20B Quantum Campus

🧀 New AI Facility in Wisconsin

📊 Chart of the Week

📆 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Editions of the Driver’s Seat

Highlights from Last Week:

We began the week co-hosting a founder dinner with Brex on Monday 👇

We then hosted our monthly AI Tinkerers Chicago meetup at the office, starting it off with a fireside chat featuring John Agan, who is the Head of Product at Replit 👇

We also welcomed a new partner to our team at Drive. Erandi was previously the co-founder of Forge Biologics, a company we incubated out of our Columbus office, and 4 years later was acquired for $620M 👇

⚛️ Chicago’s $20B Quantum Campus

Big news coming out of the quantum world this week in Chicago.

Let’s dive in:

Aspirations for a Quantum Campus

The Illinois government is actively working to establish a $20B, 150-acre quantum computing campus in Chicago, potentially making it the largest technology project in state history.
The initiative is considered a modern-day Manhattan Project, aiming to position Illinois as a quantum computing leader.
The proposed campus could create approximately 1,000 construction jobs and 500 industry jobs.

How We Make it Happen

PsiQuantum, a key player in the project, is currently deciding between two sites: the former U.S. Steel plant on the South Side and the former Texaco refinery in Lockport.
The project includes significant infrastructure plans like a cryogenic facility essential for quantum computing, expected to cost between $300m to $500m.
This facility would not only support PsiQuantum but also provide resources to other researchers and companies in the quantum computing field.

Why Chicago

Our state is already investing significant dollars and resources towards a quantum future. While the industry is still early, Illinois wants to be in the best position to capitalize on the inevitable future.
Governor Pritzker’s administration previously allocated $200m from Illinois’s capital budget to quantum initiatives, aiding in securing an additional $275m in federal funding for local research projects.
Now seeking an additional $500m from the state legislature, Illinois aims to become a recognized quantum hub, potentially attracting another $70m in funding.

🧀 New AI Facility in Wisconsin

Congratulations to our neighbors in Wisconsin for an exciting announcement in the AI world:

Microsoft's Investment

Microsoft will invest $3.3B to build an AI data center at the former Foxconn site in Racine, Wisconsin.
The site was previously intended for a $10B Foxconn mega-project.
The construction of this new facility is expected to create 2,300 union jobs and 2,000 permanent roles.

Why This Matters

During a trip to Wisconsin, President Joe Biden highlighted this initiative as part of Microsoft's broader effort to enhance its national cloud AI infrastructure.
The investment aligns with larger national goals, including significant private sector investments in clean energy and manufacturing and support for 51,000 infrastructure projects across the country.
This move benefits the entire Midwest region.

📊 Chart of the Week

The chart below shows the annual income a household needs to afford a typical home in various major US cities.

In 2020, a household in Chicago needed to earn $65,041 to afford a typical home. By 2024, this required income has increased to $104,757, demonstrating significant growth over four years.

Chicago’s rising home affordability rate is still lower than the national average and other major metros.