Rendering of the PsiQuantum facility at the former South Works site, which will house the country’s first large-scale quantum computer.
psychoquantum
The question of what to do with the old U. S. Empty Steel South Works has been a 500-acre ballast around the neck of the city for more than 30 years.
Located on the shores of the lake on 79th Street, the site seemed to have every prospect of progression in the world. But years of effort to turn this once-industrial domain into an exciting new waterfront community have come and gone, even after the city spent millions to enlarge the U. S. 41 across the site and build a 70-acre Park 566 and a 16-acre Steelworkers Park. . Formation
But now it looks like the South (Works) will grow again thanks to a new plan announced last week by Governor J. B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson to build a quantum computer studies and production campus at the site.
Pritzker said the campus would be a “world leader” in the quantum computing industry. And Johnson said the task will “change the lives of just this domain of the city, the city of Chicago as a whole, but also the global economy around technology. “”.
Quantum computing uses large, complicated computers that can solve disorders faster and better than traditional computers, which use binary sequences.
Experts say those new computers can better handle the kind of complex calculations needed to create breakthrough drugs.
PsiQuantum, of Palo Alto, California, will be the campus’ anchor tenant. Once the company is established there, PsiQuantum will work to build the country’s first commercial quantum computer.
Earlier this month, Pritzker announced a partnership between the state and the U. S. Department of Defense’s progression company to expand quantum technology in Illinois.
As part of the alliance, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, would sign up for PsiQuantum on campus and lead a program to test quantum computing prototypes.
“We are the only state that has created a quantum campus and a quantum plan,” Pritzker said. “And the fact that the federal government is stepping up and looking for a partner, especially DARPA, is wonderful validation. “
But none of this is cheap. Pritzker’s 2025 budget sets out $500 million for quantum research, of which $300 million will be spent on the creation of the South Works campus.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s $1. 25 billion housing and economic bond investment will go toward the campus project.
And there’s also a movement underway to get the county to make eligible for Class 8 asset tax incentives, aimed at encouraging advertising and advertising progression in economically distressed spaces, which would reduce the tax assessment of campus advertising assets by 25% for advertising. propiedades. al 10% for 10 years.
PsiQuantum would get $500 million in point incentives for cities, states, and counties over a 30-year period.
The mayor’s office says all of those public investments will have an economic effect of $20 billion over the next decade and create more than 175,000 jobs in the quantum computing sector.
We are skeptical of the economic progression projections, which tend to be more positive than the Garfield Park Conservatory’s distributed homes.
But if South Works is to be redeveloped, public subsidies will be needed to carry it out.
The South Side of Chicago, i. e. , the subset known as “The Bush,” which was situated near the old metal mill, could benefit from an upgrade like the Quantum Campus.
The historical domain depended on U. S. Steel and other factories for its sustenance for much of the 20th century and suffered greatly when the industry suddenly disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s.
We would like citizens and voices on social media to have a seat at the table as the plans expand and, more importantly, a percentage of the jobs that will come out of this project.
Judging by the renderings, the site’s two public parks will remain, and that’s fine too.
Time will tell if all this comes to fruition. But for now, the quantum campus assignment looks like precisely the kind of transformative, large-scale, and potentially job-creating effort that neighborhoods like Chicago’s South Side and the city itself need.
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