The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $1 billion partnership with Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD, ETR:AMD) to develop two next-generation supercomputers aimed at addressing major scientific and technological challenges, including nuclear energy, cancer research, and national security.
The first system, named Lux, is scheduled to be operational within six months and will feature AMD’s MI355X AI chips along with AMD CPUs and networking technology.
Lux will be housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is expected to provide roughly three times the AI capacity of current US supercomputers.
A second, more advanced supercomputer, Discovery, will use AMD’s MI430 AI chips optimized for high-performance computing.
Delivery is expected by 2028, with operations beginning in 2029.
Both systems are intended to accelerate advancements in areas such as fusion energy, replicating the sun’s core on Earth, as well as pharmaceutical development for cancer treatments and the management of the US nuclear arsenal.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Reuters that the systems will help achieve faster progress in fusion energy within two to three years and could transform many fatal cancers into manageable conditions within five to eight years.
"We’re going to get just massively faster progress using the computation from these AI systems," Wright told Reuters.
The DOE will host the supercomputers, with AMD and other partners, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, providing hardware and investment.
Shares of AMD added 0.4% at about $253 following the announcement.