CHICAGO – Today, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced that Illinois has secured approximately $30 million in federal funding for The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub. The Bloch will advance quantum technologies by growing the domestic base of quantum components manufacturers and strengthening domestic supply chains. This funding from EDA marks a significant milestone in advancing Illinois’ technological innovation, creating equitable employment opportunities and establishing Illinois and the U.S. as global leaders in quantum technology and semiconductor innovation.
"This award is a powerful validation of Illinois’ vision to become the global capital of quantum – helping us accelerate innovation, strengthen supply chains, and create good-paying jobs,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Together with our historic investments in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, our state is building an innovation ecosystem to drive economic growth and shape the future of quantum for decades to come – with Illinois and the United States in a leadership role."
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The Bloch, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), is a part of Illinois' strategic vision to establish itself as a global leader in critical technology sectors. This vision is supported by Governor Pritzker’s historic $500 million investment in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), the first-of-its-kind campus built for quantum technology and microelectronics innovation and scale up.
“The Bloch will drive US quantum leadership, strengthen national security, and create jobs by eliminating barriers to domestic quantum manufacturing, a challenge that the Midwest is uniquely equipped to address,” said David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor of Quantum Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, director of the CQE, principal investigator of The Bloch, and a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana are all top 10 manufacturing states, and the Midwest is home to a diverse industry base, world-leading research institutions, and a large talent pool.”
This announcement comes as Illinois welcomes global leaders to Chicago for the second annual Global Quantum Forum, which brings together experts from government, industry, and academia to advance collaboration in the quantum industry. Illinois’ growing innovation ecosystem, including the EDA’s investment in The Bloch, highlights the state's role as a leading destination for quantum research, commercialization, and manufacturing.
"The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub is strengthening Illinois' standing as a global leader in quantum technology," said DCEO Director Kristin Richards. "With grant funding from the EDA, The Bloch will be a catalyst for economic opportunity as it creates new jobs, trains Illinois' world-class workforce and supports our growing quantum ecosystem."
As a member of The Bloch, the IQMP will build a state-of-the-art facility to house quantum suppliers and components manufacturers, create good-paying jobs from researchers to technicians, and co-locate manufacturers with global leaders in quantum computing to speed up innovation cycles. The facility’s construction will be funded by EDA and the State of Illinois, leveraging funding previously committed to the IQMP. The building, called the FaQtory, will support The Bloch’s mission to lead the nation to a sustainable and inclusive quantum economy.
"The IQMP is thrilled to celebrate this funding from the US Economic Development Administration that will help bring the FaQtory -- our future supplier building -- to life,” said Dr. Harley Johnson, CEO of the IQMP. “This facility is an essential piece of what makes the IQMP’s model so unique. We’re giving key companies in the quantum and microelectronics supply chain a home right alongside the customers and partners they serve. By offering customized, dedicated space for manufacturing work, we're able to embed essential suppliers into our ecosystem, accelerating innovation cycles for all of our partners and tenants.”
The Bloch is expected to create 30,000 quantum jobs, train 50,000 workers, and support 200 quantum companies by 2035. The intent is to fund projects led by IBM, Microsoft, quantum companies such as Infleqtion and qBraid, and other key consortium members, through which The Bloch will create essential feedback loops between quantum technology developers and industry; build the largest community college-led quantum program in the U.S.; and provide leading hardware, software, and networks to expedite quantum technology development and industry adoption.
“This is Illinois' moment to lead the building of a national quantum manufacturing supply chain. The quantum program enables Illinois' manufacturers of every size to build the capacity to compete, giving our state the ability to lead in a technology that's critical to America's economic strength and national security,” said Dan Hofmann, IMEC Interim President.
The EDA grant, combined with nearly $13 million in match funding from the State of Illinois, will support The Bloch’s multiple projects. In particular, the State of Illinois is contributing almost $11 million for the construction of the FaQtory supplier building at the IQMP, which will provide quantum components manufacturers with state-of-the-art space next door to world-leading quantum computing companies. Additionally, the State of Illinois, through DCEO’s Federal Grant Support Program, has committed $2 million to help support, scale, and align all of The Bloch’s projects and investment opportunities by connecting available joint resources and personnel.
“In Illinois, we know that quantum computing is the future—and quantum computing’s future is in Illinois,” said Senator Durbin. “This federal funding for The Bloch further secures our state as the foremost leader in this emerging industry, shoring up domestic supply chains and creating good-paying jobs in the process.”
EDA’s Tech Hubs program was designed to strengthen America’s economic competitiveness and national security by investing in regions with the talent and assets to become global leaders in the critical technologies of the future. The approximately $30 million investment in The Bloch and funds for other Tech Hubs across the country will accelerate technology commercialization, moving breakthroughs out of labs, through manufacturing lines, and into the marketplace faster, and at greater scale.
Governor Pritzker has made investing in quantum computing a major priority during his administration. In addition to the $500 million investment in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), Illinois previously invested $200 million to support the Chicago Quantum Exchange, the first state to make that large of a commitment to quantum – a move that cemented Illinois’ leadership nationally and attracted federal research dollars. Companies committed to the IQMP include IBM, anchor tenant PsiQuantum, Infleqtion, Pasqal, Diraq, and Quantum Machines.
"Backed by elite research and higher education institutions, a growing workforce, and innovative public-private partnerships, Illinois' quantum ecosystem is among the most formidable in the world," said Illinois EDC President and CEO Christy George. "Illinois stands ready to turn ideas into breakthroughs and breakthroughs into new jobs and investments."
About The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub
The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), seeks to lead quantum computing, communications, sensing, and related solutions. Leveraging Chicago’s research universities, national labs, and industry partners in finance, transportation, and manufacturing, this Tech Hub will increase industry access to shared-use quantum facilities and hardware to meet industry needs and generate good-paying jobs. In doing so, The Bloch Tech Hub seeks to advance quantum technologies, enabling new solutions for logistics optimization, drug discovery, fraud detection, secure data sharing, and more. The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Northwestern University.
