The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the deployment of two new artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), utilizing a new public-private partnership model designed to accelerate the pace at which advanced computing systems come online.
The first system, named Lux, will be powered by AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs, AMD EPYC CPUs, and AMD Pensando networking technology. Scheduled for deployment in early 2026, Lux aims to expand DOE’s near-term AI capacity and support work on key national priorities such as fusion and fission research, materials discovery, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and grid modernization.
Lux will feature a secure and efficient AI software stack intended to enhance the United States’ innovation base and global competitiveness.
“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,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “That’s why the Trump administration is announcing the first example of a new commonsense approach to computing partnerships with Lux. We are also announcing, as part of a competitive procurement process, Discovery. Working with AMD and HPE, we’re bringing new capacity online faster than ever before, turning shared innovation into national strength, and proving that America leads when private-public partners build together.”
Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO of AMD, commented on the collaboration: “We are proud and honored to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy and Secretary Wright to accelerate America’s AI compute infrastructure. This partnership exemplifies public-private collaboration at its best. With Discovery and Lux, we are delivering leadership compute systems that combine performance and energy efficiency to advance America’s research priorities and strengthen U.S. leadership in AI, energy, and national security.”
According to DOE officials, this public-private partnership model will reduce the time needed to deploy new supercomputers from years to months by allowing both DOE and industry partners like AMD to co-invest in resources. The arrangement enables shared access to computing power for mutual benefit while advancing technologies crucial for American science, energy production, and industrial competitiveness.
A second system named Discovery will be delivered under DOE’s traditional procurement model in 2028. Built by HPE using next-generation AMD processors—specifically HPE Cray Supercomputing GX5000 units powered by upcoming AMD EPYC “Venice” chips alongside AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs—Discovery is expected to surpass Frontier (currently the world’s second-largest supercomputer located at ORNL) in performance.
HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri stated: “We are proud to build on our strong U.S. public-private partnership with the Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and AMD that first began when we debuted the Frontier exascale supercomputer and broke a significant computing speed barrier. Together, we will continue to strengthen U.S. national leadership in the era of AI and accelerate scientific breakthroughs and innovation with Discovery and Lux.”
Discovery’s increased capabilities are expected to enable scientists to analyze data more rapidly than before—reducing discovery cycles from years down to weeks—and train complex AI models targeting challenging scientific problems in fields like medicine, energy development, cybersecurity initiatives, and advanced manufacturing.
ORNL Laboratory Director Stephen Streiffer added: “The Discovery system will drive scientific innovation faster and farther than ever before. Oak Ridge’s leadership in supercomputing has transformed how researchers solve problems. With Discovery and Lux, we’re accelerating the pace of Gold Standard Science at a scale that secures America’s leadership in an increasingly competitive world.”
Both supercomputers are designed not only for high computational throughput but also for secure data movement across sites within DOE’s network infrastructure—aiding efforts such as integrating modeling with experimentation for rapid solutions on national challenges.
DOE reports that over $1 billion in combined public-private investment is being allocated toward these initiatives as it works alongside AMD and HPE on what it calls record-setting timelines for delivering advanced AI capacity.
