QCBRIEF
Q STAR is a 160 member Japanese industrial alliance including Toshiba, NEC, NTT, and Hitachi. IQMP is a 128 acre publicly backed campus on Chicago's South Side. No funded program is attached.
A 128-acre public campus on Chicago's South Side called the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) signed a non-binding framework deal with Japan's Q-STAR, a 160-member industrial alliance that includes Toshiba, NEC, NTT, and Hitachi. The MoU was signed at the Global Quantum Forum in Chicago by IQMP CEO Harley Johnson and Q-STAR Global Consortium Alliances Working Group Chair Hirofumi Mori, according to the Quantum Computing Report.
The agreement names four operational tracks: cross-border venture funding, shared hardware and fabrication supply lines, joint research and enterprise pilots, and workforce and technology transfer. The framework was facilitated by Illinois state economic development agencies and follows recent state-led exchanges, including Governor Pritzker's late-2024 trip to Japan and a March 2026 trade mission to Tokyo.
Q-STAR, founded in 2021, functions as the front door for outside partners reaching Japan's quantum industry. IQMP, also publicly backed, is meant to be the matching landing pad on the U.S. side. No dollars, no headcount, and no delivery date are attached to the deal. The test is whether a named program, pilot, or company commitment shows up in the next 12 months.