U.S. Department of Energy and AMD form $1 billion partnership for supercomputer and AI development
The U.S. Department of Energy partnered with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in a $1 billion deal to build two supercomputers for scientific research and national security.
October 27, 2025 - 08:39 PM ET • 2 min read
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $1 billion partnership with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on October 27, 2025, aimed at constructing two new supercomputers. The initiative, confirmed by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and AMD CEO Lisa Su, is designed to significantly boost the nation's capacity for complex scientific research and data processing.
The collaboration focuses on building machines capable of handling increasingly complex experiments that require harnessing enormous amounts of data-crunching capability. Officials stated that the goal is to accelerate scientific discoveries in critical areas where the U.S. maintains a strategic focus.
Energy Secretary Wright emphasized that the new systems would "supercharge" advances across several high-priority sectors. These include the development of nuclear power and fusion energy technologies, enhancing capabilities for defense and national security, and accelerating the development of new drugs and cancer treatments.
The U.S. government is building the two machines to ensure the country possesses sufficient supercomputing resources necessary to run sophisticated experiments. These experiments often demand computational power far exceeding current capabilities, particularly as scientific methodology increasingly relies on harnessing and analyzing massive datasets. The machines are expected to accelerate the process of making scientific breakthroughs in areas crucial to national competitiveness and public health.
The $1 billion investment reflects the strategic importance the DOE places on high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. These systems are intended to represent a generational leap in processing power, integrating advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to handle predictive modeling and simulation tasks that are currently intractable.
The ability to analyze vast amounts of data is considered a cornerstone of modern scientific methodology, particularly in fields like materials science and personalized medicine, where rapid iteration and testing are crucial for development. The partnership ensures that the hardware architecture is specifically tailored to the DOE's unique research requirements, linking private sector innovation directly to federal scientific goals.
AMD CEO Lisa Su, who had previously participated in a White House Task Force meeting on AI Education in September 2025, confirmed the company's commitment to the project. The collaboration underscores the U.S. government's effort to maintain technological leadership by ensuring adequate infrastructure exists to support cutting-edge research vital for national security and economic growth. The construction of the two supercomputers is viewed by officials as essential for maintaining the pace of scientific discovery in the face of increasingly complex global challenges.