Sen. Tammy Duckworth will head to Japan on Friday to help boost Illinois agriculture and the state’s advancements in quantum technology.
Duckworth first lands in Tokyo, where she plans to meet with Toshiba’s chief technology officer to discuss quantum technology and future partnerships in Illinois. The CEO of Toshiba already leads Q-STAR, the quantum tech group looking to explore further opportunities in the state. A delegation of Q-Star members will visit Chicago for The Global Quantum Forum on July 22, according to Duckworth’s office.
“Illinois is already a hub for agriculture, manufacturing, energy and transportation, and we have to continue to prove ourselves. We have to be a national leader for quantum technology, and so I’m going to be meeting not just for Toshiba, but also with DMG Mori and also IBM in Tokyo,” Duckworth said. “So in particular, IBM and Toshiba leads Q-Star, which is the Japanese Quantum Consortium, and they are working right now and signing agreements with the [Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park] quantum center, and I’m going to push really hard to support that effort.”
Duckworth also met with Toshiba CEO Shimada Taro in Japan, along with key Illinois quantum leaders, in August 2024.
Duckworth said she’ll learn more about IBM’s advanced quantum computer and thank them for investing in Illinois’ quantum network. IBM in April announced a FutureNow Chicago delivery center at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the South Side, which will create 750 full-time jobs in AI, cybersecurity, data science and quantum, among other fields.
As part of that partnership, IBM is making a commitment to hire one-third of qualified program graduates from a new City Colleges of Chicago apprenticeship program.
Gov. JB Pritzker, who is helping to steer quantum expansion in the state, led a trade mission trip to Japan in October 2024, and he’s making it a goal for Illinois to become “the Silicon Valley of quantum development.”
Duckworth continues to stress that the race against China for quantum computing is imperative for national security.
“No encryption that our military would have, no encryption with our financial services, with your credit card information, my credit card information, your mortgage, your student loan — there will be no encryption system that will be safe if China beats us in the quantum race. It’s why I find this incredibly urgent,” Duckworth said. “This is an issue of financial security. This is economics here, but it’s also a national security issue.”
The senator will also meet with leaders from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to talk about investments in sustainable air fuel. Duckworth’s office said that meeting will focus on strengthening trade partnerships that support Illinois’ soy, corn, ethanol and sustainable air fuel producers.
On Saturday, Duckworth will visit the Komazawa Housing Exhibition Park, one of Japan’s top modular housing manufacturers, to explore potential opportunities in Illinois.
“I’m going to go on and take a look at the one in Japan at how they’re going about doing this, because I think if we can manufacture housing and expand the program, that will bring down the cost of prefab [prefabricated] housing in the U.S.,” Duckworth said. “Right now it costs us as much to build a prefab home as it does a conventional home, and that doesn’t make sense. So I’m trying to crack this code.”
She will also travel on Sunday to Osaka, a sister city with Chicago, to meet with local city leaders and to Nara on Monday to meet with business leaders from DMG Mori, which has a U.S. company headquarters in Hoffman Estates. That headquarters soon will relocate to Chicago. Duckworth also will meet with Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama to discuss possible future economic opportunities between Osaka and Illinois.
Duckworth traveled to Singapore in May on a congressional delegation trip, where she attended the defense summit Shangri-La Dialogue to reaffirm the United States’ partnership with allies in the Indo-Pacific. She also traveled to Poland and Portugal in January to focus on partnership programs between the Illinois National Guard and both countries.
Duckworth has taken two to three trips to Asia every year as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.