The United States has launched a significant partnership with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), committing $1 billion to construct two state-of-the-art supercomputers. This initiative aims to address major scientific challenges across various sectors, including nuclear power, cancer treatments, and national security.
According to a report by Reuters, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and AMD CEO Lisa Su announced the collaboration, highlighting the urgent need for powerful computational resources to accelerate scientific discovery.
The urgency of this initiative stems from the increasing complexity of experiments that require extensive data processing capabilities. The two supercomputers are expected to significantly enhance the United States’ ability to conduct groundbreaking research in these critical fields.
Energy Secretary Wright emphasized that the newly developed systems would “supercharge” advancements in nuclear power and fusion energy, as well as improve technologies crucial for national defense and security. One of the exciting prospects is the pursuit of fusion energy, a process that imitates the sun’s power generation by fusing light atoms within plasma gas under extreme conditions.
“We’ve made great progress, but plasmas are unstable, and we need to recreate the centre of the sun on Earth,” Wright explained to Reuters. He expressed optimism that the computation capabilities provided by these supercomputers would enable the nation to make significant strides in harnessing fusion energy within the next two to three years.
In addition to energy advancements, these machines will play a pivotal role in managing the U.S. nuclear arsenal and facilitating drug discovery processes. By simulating molecular interactions, researchers hope to transform cancer from a deadly disease into a manageable condition in as little as five to eight years.
Wright articulated his vision for the future, stating, “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.”
The first supercomputer, named Lux, is slated to be constructed and operational within the next six months. The Lux system will utilize AMD’s cutting-edge MI355X artificial intelligence chips, along with central processing units (CPUs) and networking technologies developed by AMD.
AMD’s Lisa Su described the Lux deployment as the fastest of its size she has encountered, reflecting a desire for rapid advancements in U.S. artificial intelligence capabilities. “This is the speed and agility that we wanted … for the US AI efforts,” she noted.
Stephen Streiffer, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), explained that the Lux supercomputer is projected to deliver three times the current AI capacity of existing supercomputers.
Following Lux, a more advanced supercomputer, named Discovery, is scheduled for delivery in 2028, with intentions for operational capabilities by 2029. This next-generation system will be based on AMD’s MI430 series of AI chips, designed specifically for high-performance computing.
While the full magnitude of Discovery’s computational capabilities remains uncertain, Streiffer anticipates significant advancements that could substantially exceed current capacities. Su elaborated on the MI430, describing it as a specialized variant of AMD’s MI400 series that merges traditional supercomputing features with the requirements for AI applications.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will host the supercomputers, which will be built and financed by AMD and its partners, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. A DOE official stated that both sides will share the computing power, facilitating collaborative research efforts.
This partnership marks the beginning of what the DOE hopes will be a series of collaborations with private industry and DOE labs nationwide, aimed at bolstering the country’s scientific and technological capabilities.
Following the announcement, AMD’s stock rose by 0.7 percent by 12:15 PM in New York (16:15 GMT), reflecting positive investor sentiment regarding the partnership’s potential.
image source from：aljazeera
