Gov. Pritzker strengthens quantum computing partnership with IBM to benefit City Colleges students

Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to build the nation’s “most robust quantum ecosystem” in South Chicago took a quantum leap forward Wednesday, thanks to a stronger partnership with anchor tenant IBM aimed at ensuring that “everyone benefits” from the quantum computing revolution.

Sixteen months after IBM became the first Fortune 500 company to join the planned Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the South Side, IBM agreed to open a new FutureNow Chicago delivery center at the park that will create 750 full-time jobs.

The groundbreaking investment includes IBM’s commitment to hire one-third of the qualified graduates from a new apprenticeship program that will be created at the City Colleges of Chicago.

Pritzker announced the new partnership at Olive Harvey College, one of the seven City Colleges whose students and future enrollees stand to benefit from the apprenticeship program and the pipeline to permanent jobs it will create.

Pritzker called it a quantum leap in his drive to ensure that the economic opportunities created by the new campus will benefit everyone in the state.

“With a transformation that’s this big, I intend to make sure that our working families and communities are at the core of the economic success that these changes are going to bring” to Chicago, the state and the nation, Pritzker told the gathering of political, business, civic and education leaders that included Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“Through a new innovative workforce collaboration between IBM and City Colleges of Chicago and philanthropic partners, our people here in Illinois will benefit from the opportunities ahead. At IBM’s FutureNow Chicago center, residents of the South Side will be able to reap the economic lift from this new wave of technology. City Colleges are supporting 500 apprentices at IBM. Even more exciting, IBM has committed to hiring more than a third of qualified participants for full-time positions.”

IBM and FutureNow Chicago will anchor the park’s new Quantum Works building, which is expected to open in 2028, the governor said.

Quantum Works will serve as a "cutting-edge innovation and talent development hub” and the quantum park’s “front door, connecting local residents to career pathways."

In preparation for their move into the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, Pritzker said scientists and engineers are already moving into buildings across the city “as they develop the first commercially useful quantum computers, test new software and explore application that … will reshape industries.”

In December, 2024, IBM announced that Chicago would be home to its new “National Quantum Algorithm Center” and its next-generation computer.

Pritzker noted that just two weeks ago he announced the expansion of the IBM Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute, which “super-charges” the state’s talent pipeline, creating new education and career pathways in quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

“So I’m not welcoming IBM for the first time. I am saying that IBM is accelerating its engagement in our city and in our state, and we just can’t thank them enough,” Pritzker said.

IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, who got his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, joined the governor for Wednesday’s announcement.

Though Illinois and IBM have a century-long history of collaboration that includes the state’s universities, Krishna said the “new era of quantum computing upon us” demands that the partnership be taken to “a whole new level.”

“I actually do believe that we are now a couple of years away from this making a profound difference to industry and to peoples lives. This is the time to double down on our cooperation and our investment,” Krishna said.

Johnson said he was grateful for IBM's "commitment to growing an equitable and inclusive economy" and the new partnership with City Colleges that includes a promise to "hire 180 alumni from their new apprenticeship program."

"I'm especially grateful for the training and the hiring of our young people and our residents from historically underserved communities," the mayor said.

City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado called the apprenticeship program a "moonshot" and a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" for 180 paid IBM apprentices.

"We believe that this model is going to be adopted and it's going to be grown," Salgado said, "and we're going to be looking years from now at the level of inclusion that we've never seen before in our city at a moment of great transition and great worry for many, many people."