Tech jobs are not landing in California or Texas this time. IBM and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said Wednesday that IBM will open a new "FutureNow Chicago" delivery center at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the city's South Side, with 750 full-time jobs over five years.
The deal is the latest in a wave of state-level packages designed to pull AI and quantum work into the Midwest.
IBM signed an agreement with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that requires it to create the 750 jobs by the end of 2030. In exchange, the company will receive an estimated $19 million in state income tax credits.
The job mix is heavy on engineering. IBM committed to at least 250 app developers, 150 software developers, and 80 data analysts, along with technical leads and administrative roles. The work will focus on AI, quantum computing, cybersecurity, and data science.
The deal also pulls in local schools. IBM said it would hire graduates from a new paid City Colleges of Chicago apprenticeship program, dubbed "Moonshot," set to launch next academic year. The company will also offer internships through Chicago State University and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
That setup is unusual. Most state tax-credit packages for tech companies focus on the headline job number. The City Colleges piece tries to push some of the hiring toward local talent rather than transplants.
The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park has been the state's bet to anchor a meaningful share of U.S. quantum infrastructure. Quantum computing is still early, but companies including IBM have been adding meaningful capital and headcount to the field as the technology gets closer to real commercial use.
For IBM, the Chicago hub fits a broader pattern of pushing more development work into hubs outside its traditional New York footprint.
The 750 figure is a five-year target, not an immediate hire wave. The "Moonshot" apprenticeship program is set to launch in the next academic year and will run over the next five years. The next data point is how fast IBM moves on the first round of hiring at the new center.
