Chicago takes a quantum leap into the future. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm

Megan McCarty Carrino.

AI is the buzzy tech of the moment.

It's made plenty of money not only for companies,

but the cities and states where investment is pouring in.

Illinois and specifically Chicago are betting that quantum computing

will be the next major tech breakthrough to transform the economy,

and they're trying to get in on the ground floor. To do that, they've turned a former steel mill

site into a tech hub called the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, with the hope

of attracting as much talent and investment as possible.

Gene Whalen recently reported on this for the Wall Street Journal.

The state has invested or is investing $500 million in this hub,

and that is paying for a lot of the roads and infrastructure,

some of the cooling equipment needed to run these computers.

At the moment, this is a giant construction site. There is one building that's nearly complete,

the first building, that will house a quantum computer developed by a California company called

SciQuantum, PSI. And there are several other companies that have also agreed to install their

own developmental quantum computers on the campus, including IBM and Dirac. According to the state, the companies altogether have pledged

about $5 billion in investment in the site over the next several years. So it's $500 million from the state

and about $5 billion from these various companies. And the site is an interesting detail.

You write that, you know, this is sort of located in a part of the city that has kind of been

left behind by the modern tech economy.

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