Illinois is betting big on the future of quantum technology. The state is investing $500 million to build the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the former U.S. Steel South Works site in South Chicago. The 128-acre campus, scheduled to be partly operational by the end of 2026, aims to bring together quantum developers, researchers, suppliers, and others. The goal of its anchor tenant, startup PsiQuantum, is to build the first “useful” computer of its kind.

Preeti Chalsani is charged with helping make that all happen. She is business development lead for the IQMP and chief quantum officer for Intersect Illinois, the economic development nonprofit partnering with the state to attract businesses. Chalsani, whose background is in applied physics, talked with Chicago about the future of the park, why this city is a good fit, and, yes, what the heck quantum technology is.

Before we get into the park, can you explain quantum computing to us nonscientists? What does it replace or improve upon?

We’re not going to start using quantum computers to do email and go on the web. It allows us to do things we cannot currently do. The computing we do now takes a lot of resources, a lot of time, and a lot of processing power — and doesn’t give you an exact answer. It’s an approximation. Quantum computers can give you answers faster that are more accurate. We will be able to find new materials, discover new drugs, and design things more accurately. And it isn’t just computing. There are other applications as well: quantum sensors and quantum communication technologies.

Do all of these applications come out of quantum physics?

Yes. Quantum effects show up only at very, very small scales. You see them when you’re looking at single atoms or molecules. When you zoom in very closely, these are the principles that govern how materials behave. We’ve been able to harness this. So, for example, some quantum sensors are single atoms that we can place where we want within the body, and they’re really sensitive. Some are single defects in a crystal that can detect light or a magnetic field or temperatures, and that’s what we’re using to detect things that happen within a cell in the body.

How much quantum computing exists now?

It’s very much still a work in progress. Depending on who you ask, we are anywhere from two to 10 years away from having quantum computers that can be game-changing, where they can do things classical computers cannot. I pointed to quantum sensors because those are the closest to realization of commercial applications.

Is there a race to create this quantum advantage, and how do Chicago and Illinois fit in?

It’s definitely a race. But it’s also a very, very collaborative field. There are a few different hubs for quantum technologies, and Chicago is one of them. We have some powerhouse institutions: University of Illinois, University of Chicago, Argonne, Fermi. We have a huge talent pool. The number of STEM graduates we produce here is the third most in the country. Microsoft hires more people from University of Illinois than any other school. I love stats like that. The trick is, many of those people go to the coasts and create value there, and we’re hoping that changes.

The park promises to host the “world’s first fault-tolerant computers.” Why is that important?

I told you that quantum computers are based on these effects that show up at very small scales. They’re also very sensitive, so if there’s slight changes in the environment, they can lose the information they’re storing. We’re doing a lot of engineering so quantum computers can maintain the information they’re storing. That’s why DARPA [the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] is partnering with us. Their Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is trying to find which of these various ways of trying to build a quantum computer has real promise. They’re encouraging that work to happen here, because we’re building the infrastructure that can support that kind of work.

What do you say to people, especially those who live near the park, who want to know how this investment will help them?

Quantum shouldn’t remain something only some PhD scientists are doing. It’s cool that we’re getting a chance to develop a new industry from scratch. We can build it the way we want and do it intentionally to make sure we’re involving the community. As we’re growing this industry, we want to be sure the people who make it work are being trained here. This is going to be a field that will require expertise from lawyers, HR professionals, people doing communications. There’s a lot of work being done with K–12 education and community colleges to make sure we have the workforce we will need in the future. To me, it’s how do you want to be affected by this? If you have a bakery in this neighborhood, I hope you’re excited because we want to develop this area, and we want to make sure your business flourishes. If you’re a teacher, I hope you can point your students to what’s happening here and be like, “This is what quantum is, and it’s happening in your backyard.”

What are you most excited about over, say, the next 25 years if these plans come to fruition?

I’m excited by what sensors can do — how we can maybe image the brain in ways we couldn’t before. Maybe we’re going to create new battery materials, or create new materials that can capture carbon. It can do real things for humanity. What is also very exciting is that this is a really tough engineering challenge, and we have a lot of smart people working on it. I’m excited at the idea of us having an ecosystem here of putting minds together and coming up with things we hadn’t imagined. Now they’re working on quantum things, but going forward, it may be inventing other new fields, and who knows what they will come up with. Maybe that’s how Silicon Valley felt in 1970.

Avenue Q

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park is not the only place where Chicago is making a name for itself with this technology. Here are four local startups.

• EeroQ Sure, everybody talks a big game about trapping and controlling electrons that float on top of liquid helium. But if this Humboldt Park firm actually pulls it off, it can build a large-scale computer whose qubits — the basic units of quantum computing — can stay “coherent” (i.e., in a quantum state) for a long time.

• Photon Queue Quantum computing requires memory, which requires storing photons (the smallest particles of light). That’s where this firm, started by U. of I. PhDs, comes in. It’s working on a more efficient way to house single photons — or what it matter-of-factly calls “practical photon storage.”

• memQ It’s trying to find a scalable way of “storing quantum information for longer periods.” A key priority: figuring out how such computing can be made compatible with our existing telecommunications infrastructure.

• SynthBits By using quantum technology to combine magnetic resonance and fluorescent microscopy, two techniques core to biology, SynthBits is creating nanometer-size qubits that allow for highly responsive, tightly positioned tiny sensors for health diagnostics and drug research.