TORONTO — Illinois is trying to persuade promising quantum computing companies, including a number of Canadian firms, to set up shop in the state’s new deep technology hub, offering infrastructure and tax breaks to help them scale.

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), located on the site of a former steel mill in Chicago, has already landed U.S. tech firms PsiQuantum and IBM as anchor tenants. It’s now in discussions with American and international companies to locate their R&D, software or test facilities there. 

The IQMP is in discussion with Canadian firms about setting up on the campus, said executive director Harley Johnson, although he declined to name them. Canadian policymakers and tech executives have expressed concern about losing quantum computing firms to the U.S. as American governments pour money into the sector.

The IQMP is targeting quantum-computing firms that have graduated from the lab, and need a place to build larger machines and tackle bigger engineering projects, Johnson said. Illinois has committed US$500 million to the buildout of the 128-acre park, as it courts the emerging quantum sector.

Scaling up the technology is “a very capital-intensive proposition,” Johnson said. IQMP aims to reduce those costs with shared infrastructure. Many quantum computers require ultra-cold temperatures to run properly, so the organization is building an industrial-sized cryo plant to provide tenants with cooling. 

Companies will also be able to rent specialist gear and use an on-site fabrication shop and testing and measurement systems. “You need some very specialized, expensive equipment and infrastructure to advance quantum technology,” said Preeti Chalsani, chief quantum officer for Intersect Illinois, a statewide economic development agency.

Canadian quantum firms are already taking advantage of U.S. programs offering money and support to help them scale. Three Canadian startups—Sherbrooke, Que.-based Nord Quantique, Vancouver-based Photonic and Toronto-based Xanadu—are among the 18 firms that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected for its blockbuster Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.

The program requires participating quantum computing companies to show that their technology could produce a device capable of solving real industrial problems by 2033. Companies could each receive up to US$316 million in funding from the agency. Canada’s AI Minister Evan Solomon described the DARPA program as “a strategic threat to a strategic asset,” in an interview with The Logic last month. He said the new Liberal government plans to roll out new measures to keep promising quantum firms in Canada. 

An internal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada memo from November 2024 about the DARPA program cited the Chicago park among several other risks to Canada’s nascent quantum sector. While the agency isn’t dictating where firms do their development or undergo testing for the program, the IQMP is trying to win some of that work. The agency and state have each pledged an extra US$140 million to support engineering projects companies will undertake as part of the program. 

Chalsani and Johnson, who are both from Canada, acknowledged concerns over the loss of Canadian companies to the U.S., but said the IQMP is not trying to convince firms to relocate. “It’s not a hostile takeover,” Chalsani said. Illinois wants to attract jobs, investment and technology development, she said, but that doesn’t require that companies move wholesale. The park is a “great site for Canadian companies, if they’re looking to expand.” 

In addition to firms building quantum hardware, the IQMP is trying to bring in companies developing software and applications for the machines and businesses that could use the technology. Chicago hosts the headquarters of major firms in energy, finance, chemicals and logistics, Johnson said. “That critical mass of end users binds the ecosystem together.”

Illinois also offers tax breaks to firms that create jobs or manufacture chips and other quantum components in the state. “Illinois wants to make sure that the development of technology happens here,” said Chalsani. 

She touted the park’s proximity to the U.S. Energy Department’s Fermilab, which studies particle physics, and Argonne National Lab, which focuses on advanced materials and computing. Illinois also has major research universities producing breakthroughs and skilled graduates, Chalsani said.

In Canada, both Calgary and Sherbrooke have launched their own quantum districts. The sector is seeking further federal support. As The Logic first reported, the federal Quantum Advisory Council recommended in December that the federal government commit nearly $2 billion to ensure Canada can capitalize on the technology, including $1 billion to match the DARPA program. 

The proposal also includes giving $15 million each for seven years to quantum clusters in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. The funded organizations would bring together local universities, companies, investors and governments to work on research, testing, manufacturing, application development and skills training—a model much like the one being built in Illinois.

Canadian executives say the places where companies build their full-scale machines will reap the benefits of a technology projected to have significant economic and scientific impacts. The definitive global quantum cluster hasn’t yet been crowned, said Stephanie Simmons, co-founder and chief quantum officer at Photonic. The sector “will localize around the firm that’s able to capture the most market share,” she said.