DOE Announces Over $1 Billion for New AI Supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a significant investment exceeding $1 billion in public-private partnerships to bring two new artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers, Lux and Discovery, to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. This initiative aims to expand America's leadership in scientific computing, strengthen national security, and drive innovation. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee expressed his appreciation for the selection, stating, "Thank you, @POTUS, @SecretaryWright & @ENERGY, for selecting @ORNL as a key innovation partner."

The new systems, Lux and Discovery, are designed to accelerate scientific breakthroughs across various critical fields. Lux, an AMD-accelerated AI cluster, is slated for deployment in early 2026, while the HPE-built Discovery supercomputer is expected to arrive in 2028. Both will leverage advanced AMD processors and GPUs, with Lux also utilizing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as part of its AI cluster.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright underscored the strategic importance of these developments, noting that "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." He highlighted Lux as the first example of a new public-private partnership model under the Trump administration, designed to bring computing capacity online faster. Discovery will follow a traditional competitive procurement process.

These supercomputers are poised to enable unprecedented advancements in AI modeling for nuclear energy, precision medicine through AI-driven digital twins, and the acceleration of aerospace design cycles. They will also support critical national priorities including fusion, fission, materials discovery, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and grid modernization. The enhanced computing speeds will allow researchers to generate and analyze data at record pace, shortening discovery cycles.

Governor Lee further affirmed Tennessee's commitment to the national strategy, remarking, "Tennessee is proud to stand with the Trump administration in unleashing American energy to strengthen national security & create even greater opportunity across the country." This collaboration positions ORNL at the forefront of the nation's efforts to maintain global leadership in high-performance computing and AI.