A view to the north, toward the Chicago skyline, from the former U. S. Steel South Works. Plans are underway for an imaginable quantum computing facility at the South Chicago site.
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It’s a sign that Gov. J. B. Pritzker needs to build a primary quantum computing facility in Chicago.
What makes things even better is that the governor and the company PsiQuantum he works with in Palo Alto, California, are proposing to build the center on the former and long-dormant U. S. Steel South Works on Chicago’s South Side, as Crain reported. Chicago Business reported last week. A second facility is proposed for the former Texaco refinery in Lockport.
Getting the main points out about the plan is harder than pulling teeth, as neither the governor’s office, PsiQuantum, nor Related Midwest, the potential developer of South Works, responded to calls for comment.
But Chicago wants there to be more industries that appeal to the future. And the city would get advantages from anything big in the South Works, a 500-acre lot overlooking the lakefront south of 79th Street, which is underutilized and has existed far below its prospects since the metal’s emergence. The mill closed 30 years ago.
Quantum computers use more complex algorithms than classical computers or even supercomputers and can therefore better compute larger, more complex problems. It’s a capability that can prove critical in a variety of uses, from producing new drugs to tracking complex monetary transactions.
Instead of the electronic strings of zeros and ones (binary bits) that make up the backbone of classical computing, quantum computers use qubits or quantum bits. But for a qubit to retain its shape and remain error-free, a quantum computer’s processors will need to be kept at 460 degrees below zero.
Hence the need for a large, specialized IT facility, such as the one planned at South Works and Lockport.
The U. S. is at the forefront of this revolutionary technology, with IBM at or near the top. The University of Chicago is a halfway point for quantum computing progress. If built, the Chicago and Lockport sites could create more than 1,000 jobs. Crain reported.
Could PC installation be the lifeline South Works has had for decades?
The giant parcel has been bitten for more than a generation, as redevelopment plans failed one after another.
Solo Cup Co. bought 120 acres of land in 2001 to build a factory, then blew plans in 2007 and sold the assets to the progression team looking to build the ambitious (and ultimately unfortunate) progression of Chicago Lakeside in the United States. Iron and metal patio.
Chicago Lakeside, which won city approval in 2010, promised a city within the city of 13,000 residences, split between homes and high-rise towers. A staggering 17 million square foot commercial area is also planned, as well as a world-class school, marina, new parks, and an extension of U. S. 41/DuSable Lake Shore Drive through the site.
The total deal fell through a few years later, as did the subsequent commission through other developers to build a community of 20,000 homes there.
Meanwhile, the city spent $60 million to widen Highway 41 and created USW Park and Park 566 on the site, yet the vast majority of the parcel remains vacant to this day.
With such a track record, installing PsiQuantum, if it happens, may be the solution to this problem.
But the public wants to know more. The governor would do well to provide the main points about PsiQuantum’s plans for the site as soon as possible. This is especially true if a public subsidy is to be implemented to complete the agreement – and that of Lockport.
And if the commission goes ahead, Obra Sur has serious environmental problems that will have to be addressed, adding remediation or covering the layers of slag buried underground. Slag is a poisonous waste that is generated during the steelmaking process.
Still, the task could simply provide a boost and the economic boost that Chicago’s South Side has long needed and deserved. This would be a first victory not only for the community, but also for the city and for Illinois.
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