Governor JB Pritzker Directs $110 Million for Chicago Quantum Foundries and Cryogenic Testing

CHICAGO — Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced on Monday the distribution of $110 million in state capital grants through the Rebuild Illinois capital plan to construct specialized cryogenic dilution refrigeration facilities, quantum photonic foundries, and cleanroom testing bays at the newly designated Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago's historic South Side.

The investment advances the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE)—a collaborative partnership spanning the University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory—transforming 128 acres of the former US Steel South Works property into the world's premier quantum technology campus.

Establishing Illinois as the Global Quantum Computing Capital Quantum computers leverage the principles of subatomic quantum mechanics to perform calculations in seconds that would require classical supercomputers millennia, unlocking revolutionary breakthroughs in pharmaceutical drug discovery, clean battery chemistry, and unhackable quantum encryption.

"Illinois is leading the next great technological revolution, and we are building the world's capital for quantum computing right here on the South Side of Chicago," Governor Pritzker said during an announcement in Chicago. "Quantum technology will reshape every industry on earth, from national defense and cybersecurity to medicine and clean energy. This $110 million investment builds the specialized cryogenic foundries and cleanrooms needed to attract the world's top quantum startups and corporate giants, creating thousands of high-wage jobs and revitalizing our South Side communities."

Quantum Facility Architecture and Tooling The $110 million program finances:

• 24 Commercial Dilution Refrigerator Testing Bays: Operating at 10 millikelvin (-459.6°F) to stabilize superconducting and trapped-ion qubits.
• Shared Nanofabrication Cleanroom: $45 million for electron-beam lithography, atomic layer deposition, and silicon-qubit packaging tools accessible to academic researchers and startups.
• Quantum Tech Workforce Training Center: $20 million partnering with City Colleges of Chicago to train 500 cryogenic technicians and cleanroom operators.

Quantum physicists, venture capital leaders, and building trades labor unions commended the governor's targeted investment, pointing out that public-shared cryogenic facilities dramatically lower capital barriers for quantum hardware companies.