Exclusive look inside Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park development in South Chicago A new development under construction in South Chicago will specialize in quantum computing. It's a massive priority for Gov. JB Pritzker, who pushed for the big bucks going into it, hoping to transform vacant space on the lakefront and position Illinois to become the next Silicon Valley. The future is taking shape on South DuSable Lake Shore Drive on property that's been vacant since 1992, when the 128-acre U.S. Steel South Works Plant permanently closed. Quantum computing and technology will run where those mills once did. From old to new, replacing the economic engine of Chicago's past with the park that will drive it into the future on an international scale, according to Harley Johnson, CEO of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. "A lot of the people working on the project have parents or grandparents who worked at the steel mills," said Johnson said. "There's no other place like this in the world." Johnson gave CBS News Chicago an exclusive first look at the campus that's now taking shape after being greenlit by city council back in 2024. "This is, I think, a technology that we think will change the world. And what we're trying to do here is create a critical mass of companies and talent that fuels that industry," he said. In the tech space, Illinois is already establishing itself as a global leader — a hub for quantum computing and technology dubbed the Quantum Prairie or the next Silicon Valley. What is quantum computing and its relation to the future? Quantum computing is a new form of computing. It is a technology that uses the principles of quantum physics to process information in a way that's different than what classical computers do. With quantum