Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Tuesday embarked on a six-day trip to Taiwan and Singapore, where she hopes to “close the deal” on a partnership with Foxconn’s research arm at Chicago’s new quantum algorithm center.
Duckworth is on her 13th Congressional Member Delegation trip since 2018 — and this trip marks her 11th trip to Asia. She told the Sun-Times her main goal in Taiwan will be to push Hon Hai — better known as Foxconn — to invest in the soon-to-be-constructed Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the Southeast Side.
“Foxconn has been in Illinois. They’ve met with the governor’s office. They’ve met with Intersect Illinois. And I’m hoping to go in and try to help close the deal,” Duckworth told the Sun-Times. “They’ve toured Argonne and Fermilab [national laboratories]. So this is really to push our quantum microelectronics and to get investments in quantum technology.”
Foxconn and the University of Illinois in 2019 partnered on a $100 million smart technology research center headquartered at the Urbana-Champaign campus.
The Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park, a 128-acre space at the site of the former U.S. Steel South Works plant on the Southeast Side, will include quantum computing company PsiQuantum. The goal is to accelerate development of quantum technology on a large scale. IBM is also a partner in a new National Quantum Algorithm Center in Chicago.
Sydney, Australia-based Diraq, a quantum startup company, also announced it would join the campus.
Duckworth will head to Singapore on Thursday, where she’ll attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, an inter-governmental security conference. She’ll be back in Washington on Sunday, before the Senate gavels in on Monday.
In Taiwan, Duckworth said she plans to continue to secure commitments, in particular with the National Guard and the training of the Taiwan defense forces.
“The other half of what I’ll be doing is really continuing to develop my relationships that I have formed over the years with the Taiwan leadership and the Taiwan Ministry of Defense when it comes to making sure that the Taiwan people understand that the U.S. will stand with them when it comes to securing Taiwan from a potential PRC [People’s Republic of China] attack,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth spent two years of high school in Singapore, one at a British-based school and another at the Singapore American School. She said her official trips are packed, but she tries to let friends know she’s in town.
“I have friends there, but these trips are so quick and they’re just work-focused that I don’t often have time to see my friends,” Duckworth said. “I just let them know I’m in town. … I would love to see friends that I made. Maybe I’ll get to go out and have dinner at one of the hawker stalls or get some street food.”
