Board hears update on Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park; delegates predevelopment authority for National Quantum Facility

A University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting on March 25, 2025 heard an update on the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), including project scale, private partners and next steps; trustees unanimously delegated authority for a public–private predevelopment process to construct the park’s planned National Quantum Facility.

The IQMP update came from Harley Johnson, director and CEO of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park LLC, who described the project as “a massive public private partnership dedicated to the scale up of quantum computing.” He told trustees the park will occupy 128 acres on the south portion of the former U.S. Steel South Works site on Chicago’s South Side and noted a FY2025 state appropriation of $500 million to support construction and early operations.

Johnson said the park will host multiple facilities including a National Quantum Facility — “a shared experimental facility with an industrial scale cryo plant” — and a National Quantum Algorithm Center focused on software and algorithms to run at scale. He named industry partners already committed or in advanced talks, including PsiQuantum and IBM, and said the…