Crain's Chicago reports: IBM to hire 750 at Chicago’s quantum campus

IBM plans to dramatically increase its presence in Chicago with a commitment to hire 750 technical workers at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the South Side.

News excerpt below. 

The company will create jobs in AI, cybersecurity, data science, quantum and other technologies, in part through an apprenticeship program with City Colleges of Chicago.

The move signals a growing presence in Chicago by one of the world’s biggest technology companies and makes Gov. JB Pritzker’s quantum technology strategy more tangible.

“IBM’s investment in Illinois is a powerful vote of confidence in our state’s growing technology and quantum ecosystem and the world-class workforce that powers it,” Pritzker said in a written statement announcing the partnership.“With a transformation this big, I intend to make sure our working families are at the core of the economic success that these changes are going to bring to Chicago and the state of Illinois and to the United States,” Pritzker said during an event at Olive-Harvey College on the South Side, not far from the quantum park that’s under construction

Under the partnership, which evolved from discussions that began four years ago, IBM will hire 750 new employees in Chicago, with 180 of them coming from an apprenticeship program at City Colleges of Chicago. IBM will receive $19 million in state incentives. Over the next five years, City Colleges will support 500 apprentices, with IBM committing to hire qualified program graduates, the state says.

 Read the full story in Crain’s Chicago.

“IBM’s FutureNow Chicago delivery center will support new jobs, expand our Chicago delivery capability for IBM’s clients, and together, we will build the future of technology talent and create sustained economic growth,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement.

IBM, which has long had a significant sales operation in Chicago, started hiring technical staff after announcing the quantum algorithm center. The company is a leader in quantum technology, which is seen as the next major advance in computing. IBM’s participation helped bolster Pritzker’s $700 million bet that Illinois could become a leader in quantum computing, providing a long-term economic boost to Chicago and the state. IBM is one about 50 corporate partners in the Chicago Quantum Exchange, a research consortium that is anchored by University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Purdue University, as well as Argonne and Fermi national laboratories.

Companies and academic researchers believe that combining quantum computers with traditional supercomputers is the key to turbocharging artificial intelligence to tackle new problems in computer security, finance, medical research and development of new materials. The technology has not yet been proven to provide the advantage over traditional computers that researchers believe is possible. IBM is among the companies racing to build large-scale systems, which requires both new hardware and software.

Workers hired in Chicago “will help IBM clients and industry partners solve complex, real‑world business and technology challenges,” the company said.

Chicago has a large base of companies, and “all of them are trying to figure out AI and quantum,” says University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos. “This is a logical place for IBM to lay down roots.