U.S. Unveils Doudna Supercomputer: Merging AI with Future Scientific Breakthroughs

The United States has embarked on an ambitious project to construct a cutting-edge computational system, set to be housed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. This new supercomputer, named in honor of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna—co-inventor of the transformative CRISPR gene-editing technology—promises to deliver performance at least ten times greater than the laboratory’s current most powerful machines. It will stand as the most formidable computing system under the U.S. Department of Energy’s purview.

«The Doudna system embodies the Department of Energy’s commitment to securing America’s leadership in science, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. AI is the Manhattan Project of our era, and Doudna will ensure that American scientists have the tools needed to triumph in the global race for AI dominance,» declared U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

In a notable shift, the Department of Energy has chosen Dell Technologies over its long-standing partner, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, to build Doudna. This decision reflects Dell’s proven expertise in developing scalable AI systems for commercial applications, a capability now sought by national laboratories aiming to stay at the forefront of innovation.

Breaking from tradition, Doudna will not rely on Intel or AMD systems but will instead harness Nvidia’s latest Rubin graphics chips and Arm-based processors. The Berkeley Lab’s existing Perlmutter system already employs Nvidia accelerators, making this pivot to Nvidia’s technology a natural progression.

Historically, supercomputers were designed for precision tasks, such as simulating nuclear reactions or forecasting climate patterns. Today, however, their focus is increasingly shifting toward artificial intelligence. Doudna will leverage Nvidia’s software, tailored specifically for scientific applications. Dell emphasizes that the supercomputer’s architecture prioritizes modularity and scalability, paving the way for its potential adaptation in other laboratories or even commercial settings.

«This market has been running on a kind of autopilot. What we’ve done is switch it off,» remarked Paul Perez, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Dell.