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Quote/Term of the Week
Data centers / noun
Big facilities that house servers, storage, networking equipment and supporting infrastructure that powers websites and other digital services people use every day. These centers produce an immense amount of heat, often relying upon large quantities of water to cool them.
Ex: There are 39 data centers in Chicago. Developers behind a Southeast Side quantum computing campus have planned to build a data center on the northern part of the land.
Stuck between Quantum AI and a hard place
Southeast Side neighbors gathered for a packed town hall over the weekend to weigh in on the controversial $9 billion Quantum Shore megadevelopment planned for the former U.S. Steel South Works site in South Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson also attended the town hall, hosted by Southside Together. The community group has been organizing against the project since it was announced in 2024. Members regularly host trainings and teach-ins about how quantum computing, AI and data centers impact communities.
Organizers want Johnson to publicly oppose the site, including by revoking existing construction permits, blocking any future permits, reversing a City Council-approved tax rebate and withdrawing the $5 million the city had committed to the project, led by prominent developer Related Midwest.
Last week, Johnson signed an executive order to boost regulations for data centers in Chicago. He also is calling on City Council to put a temporary moratorium on new and expanded data centers — but he did not go as far as committing to stopping the quantum campus project. Neighbors jeered at the mayor as he left the event.
It’s been unclear whether the Quantum Shore campus still includes a hyperscale data center. Plans for a one-gigawatt data center on the north end of the site were announced in 2025.
Developers told Block Club Chicago that the quantum computing park under construction on the south part of the site does not include a data center, but they did not clarify whether one was still being considered for future construction at the larger Quantum Shore campus.
City officials have said they do not have any license applications for a data center, and Johnson told neighbors at the town hall it’s no longer in the plans. Although in a letter shared with the Reader, a company CEO told the mayor the quantum computing park being built is not a data center and will not include one. It does not mention whether a data center is still part of the plans for the larger Quantum Shore site, and a company spokesperson would not answer that question to the Reader.
The site cleanup approved by the EPA is moving forward, the mayor said.
Organizers have also repeatedly called out Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s longstanding support for data center developments, signing tax incentives for data centers into law as early as 2019. The governor, who is vying for re-election in November, paused those incentives earlier this summer as public opinion on the centers grew more critical.
In a statement Monday, Southside Together organizers commented further on Johnson and Pritzker’s stances about the facility, noting that they “appreciate Mayor Johnson’s reassertion of his values and public commitment to continue working directly with Southside Together and other community members to address the concerns surrounding Quantum and identify concrete paths forward.”
“We will continue to organize until this harmful development is fully stopped.”
What you can do:
Catch up on the headlines & history:
As Chicago quantum campus breaks ground, residents call for community benefits | Inside Climate News
U. of C. scientists call for halt to quantum construction | South Side Weekly & Hyde Park Herald
The fight over Illinois’s data center boom is coming to a head | Chicago Reader
Inside the Pritzkers’ ‘Quantum Prairie’ | Chicago Reader
Follow Southside Together: Learn more about and get involved with Southside Together here.
Organizing 101: Building Community Power During the Rise of Data Centers: As proposals for hyperscale data centers continue to emerge across Illinois, local communities are getting organized to fight for local protections and advocate for statewide guardrails. This webinar will explore the basics of relational organizing and leadership. Thursday, Aug. 27, 12 p.m. via Zoom, act.ilenviro.org
A version of this story was first published in the August 19, 2026 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Civic Editor Dawn Rhodes at dawn@citybureau.org.