The Energy Department has signed a billion-dollar deal to construct multiple supercomputers that will be used to unlock scientific breakthroughs in issues such as nuclear power, national security, and cancer treatment.
On Monday afternoon, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced a deal between the government and tech giant Advanced Micro Devices to build two supercomputers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory that will run complex, data-heavy experiments across multiple sectors.
“Winning the AI race requires new and creative partnerships that will bring together the brightest minds and industries American technology and science has to offer,” Wright said in a statement.
During a joint press briefing, Wright and AMD CEO Lisa Su revealed that the agreement calls for the first computer to be constructed and online within the next six months.
This computer, dubbed Lux, will be built around AMD’s MI355X artificial intelligence chips and will also feature central processors and networking chips made by the semiconductor company.
“The focus is on speed and action,” Su said, adding that the Lux supercomputer will bring three times the amount of AI performance compared to what is already on site in just a matter of months.
“This really provides a foundation for near-term scientific discovery and the acceleration of sovereign us AI research, and what makes these systems truly transformative is really the partnership behind them,” Su added.
These computers are designed to “supercharge” discoveries in scientific issues that have stumped researchers for decades, including how to harness nuclear fusion energy.
Fusion energy is a type of power generation that replicates the processes that fuel the sun and other stars, when two nuclei combine to form a new nucleus. Fusion has been an attractive alternative source of energy for decades, as it does not produce any greenhouse gases, generates less radioactive waste than nuclear fission, and is estimated to produce 10,000,000 times more energy per unit of fuel than is released when burning fossil fuels like coal.
However, the energy industry has yet to develop the appropriate technology to harness this power for long periods of time. As of this year, the longest a nuclear fusion machine has maintained the necessary reaction to produce power is just over 22 minutes.
With these new supercomputers, Wright is confident the United States will be able to accelerate advancements in nuclear energy research, making fusion a viable alternative before the end of the Trump administration.
“We’re going to get just massively faster progress using the computation from these AI systems that I believe will have practical pathways to harness fusion energy in the next two or three years,” Wright told Reuters.
He explained that the supercomputers will not only be used for energy research but also to manage the country’s arsenal of nuclear weapons and support healthcare-related research.
“My hope is in the next five or eight years, we will turn most cancers, many of which today are ultimate death sentences, into manageable conditions,” Wright said.
The second supercomputer, which will be called Discovery, will reportedly feature AMD’s MI430 AI chips that are specifically designed for high-performance computing. This project is expected to be completed by 2028 and operational one year later.
It’s unclear how much energy both of the supercomputers will exactly need to support these innovations. However, Su told reporters they are “hundreds of megawatts-type systems.”
Oak Ridge National Laboratory plans to partner with the Tennessee Valley Authority to secure the energy needed to power the advanced technology.
Monday’s announcement is expected to be the first of many similar deals made between the administration and private sector to advance AI technologies, as Wright indicated there will be “dozens” of partnerships to build facilities at national labs.
“This is just a different way business and government can work together, and critical was to move fast,” Wright said. “AI is moving fast. If we move at the old speed of government, we’re going to get left behind, and it’s just too critical not to be left behind.”
Su told Reuters ahead of the announcement that the deployment of this technology will be the fastest she has ever seen for computers at this size.
“This is the speed and agility that we wanted to [do] this for the U.S. AI efforts,” Su said.
The billion-dollar deal marks the latest effort from the Trump administration to get ahead in the AI arms race with China, something that has become a signature policy of President Donald Trump’s second term.
ENERGY SECRETARY URGES FERC TO FAST-TRACK GRID CONNECTION FOR DATA CENTERS
The Energy Department has become crucial to the administration’s efforts to support AI advancements, supporting several projects aimed at boosting the amount of reliable energy on the U.S. electric grid.
Additionally, Wright urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week to fast-track the connection of large loads, such as data centers, to the grid to support the further buildout of AI.
