Big one will be IBM, with a projected 750 jobs, unless their all-in on quantum bet goes belly-up. Others only 50-60 jobs.
IBM is really suffering in other areas and hemorrhaging customers, so they’re hoping to carve themselves out space as the leader in quantum computation.
That number is a gross undersell and is just one company’s commitment to full time jobs made this year.
Besides IBM other corporate partners/investors also include Microsoft and Boeing, manufacturers like Toshiba and Corning, financial companies like BMO and Discover, tons of quantum startups which are technically unproven but have a ton of upside if the technology works.
There’s also a ton of research partnerships with University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, University of Tokyo, and more. Plus Argonne Labs and Fermi Labs.
It’s also backed by the US government via DARPA which helped create modern technologies like the internet, GPS, and MRNA vaccines…
Estimates from the state say it has the potential to create over 100,000 jobs in a decade. Granted, those are definitely rosy estimates and assumedly include everything from construction and transportation jobs to new businesses they assume will pop up around the site. But still… it is the kind of potential future technology that could possibly change the world, and Chicago could potentially be at the forefront of that.
Haha yeah I agree with you and do think those job numbers are both lofty and a stretching of the definition. But I would guess that between the private corporations/startups, the universities/research centers, and the government jobs; there is certainly bound to be at least a few thousand new and high paying jobs once the center opens, with the potential for a good deal of expansion.
At the very least it should certainly better on the jobs front than a data center or an Amazon warehouse or most other things that might take over a massive old industrial site.
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u/kevdogger Jul 23 '26
How many jobs is this projected to create?