The University of Texas Receives $457 Million for Supercomputer FacilityThe University of Texas Receives $457 Million for Supercomputer Facility The University of Texas at Austin’s renowned Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) has been awarded a $457 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and operate the Leadership-Class Computing Facility. The new facility will house Horizon, a supercomputer with ten times the capacity of Frontera, the current largest academic supercomputer at TACC. Benefits of the Facility * Enables innovative research in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and machine learning. * Revolutionizes research capabilities that rely on complex calculations. * Enhances UT’s competitiveness in faculty and doctoral student recruitment. * Attracts and retains top talent in Texas. Impact of Horizon * Improves AI capabilities by over 100 times compared to Frontera. * Enhances the university’s research potential and that of researchers nationwide who will have access to the facility. * Facilitates transformative scientific discoveries by enabling calculations not previously possible. NSF’s Role * Oversees UT’s creation of the facility. * A long-standing partner with TACC. * Aims to advance the nation’s scientific research through this facility. Statements from Key Figures * UT President Jay Hartzell: “These tools are now increasingly important to solve the most pressing problems.” * Dan Stanzione, TACC Executive Director: “We will be among the best in academia for the amount of AI resources we have.” * Omar Ghattas, UT Professor of Mechanical Engineering: “Like a telescope with 10 times the resolution.” * Ed Walker, NSF Program Coordinator: “To enable and see transformative discoveries that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.” * Katie Antypas, NSF Director of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure: “Support for basic research and computer science yields long-term benefits…”
The University of Texas’s acclaimed computer center has received a $457 million investment and has been selected by the National Science Foundation to build and operate the Leadership-Class Computing Facility.
The Texas Advanced Computing Center, a UT powerhouse that develops and disseminates innovative computing technologies, has been working to advance computing research for two decades.
As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize technology, the grant will allow the center to build a facility that will enable more innovative research across the country, including research that isn’t currently possible.
The new supercomputer coming to the facility, Horizon, will have 10 times the capacity of the current largest academic supercomputer, Frontera, housed at the Texas Advanced Computing Center and funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Horizon will have more than 100 times the AI capabilities of Frontera, the computer center said.
UT is in the construction phase, and the new facility is expected to open in 2026. It will be in Round Rock, but will have satellite systems at universities in Atlanta, San Diego, Illinois and Pittsburgh. Any researcher across the country can apply for access.
The award fits with UT’s vision of putting technology and science at the forefront of its mission to become the most impactful public university, officials said. This week, UT’s Texas Institute for Electronics received $840 million to build a Department of Defense microelectronics fabrication facility — one of the largest federal awards ever received by a UT System school. UT has also declared 2024 “The Year of AI.”
“We’re all very aware of the importance of computing, AI, data science, machine learning. These are now increasingly important tools to solve the most pressing problems,” UT President Jay Hartzell told the American-Statesman in a phone interview. “The university has been blessed with a lot of great work and support to be at the forefront of those tools, and this increased investment and collaboration with the NSF really helps us stay ahead of the curve.”
According to Hartzell, housing the center will not only revolutionize the capabilities of research, which often relies on calculations possible only on a supercomputer, but will also make the university more competitive in recruiting faculty and doctoral students.
“It’s an important tool, not only for the country as a whole, but for Texas itself, to attract and retain the very best talent,” he said.
Dan Stanzione, the project’s principal investigator and executive director of the Texas Advanced Computing Center, has been working on the award for seven years, he said, going through multiple design phases. By the time Horizon is complete, he expects UT to be among the best in academia for the amount of AI resources it has.
“There are things we do with the machine that will have implications tomorrow, like where to evacuate after a hurricane, but there are also things we do now that will have implications for people 10 years, 50 years, 100 years from now,” he said.
Stanzione said the center’s work will touch “every corner” of campus and will have a profound impact on the research UT faculty members can conduct, a sentiment shared by the center’s expected beneficiaries.
“Imagine you’re asked to build an airplane that’s 10 times faster than current jets,” Omar Ghattas, a UT professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Oden Institute, told the Statesman. “This kind of development doesn’t happen very often, and it’s going to be a big step forward, like a telescope with 10 times the resolution.”
Ghattas is studying how to instantly predict how tsunami waves will land. He believes the new technology will allow him to do this within seconds, giving people a faster warning to evacuate.
“This is the biggest advance in supercomputing for the academic scientific community that I’ve seen in my entire career, in 40 years,” Ghattas said. “NSF has made a major commitment to improving the high-end capabilities that scientists have access to, and that UT has been selected to host this facility is a major endorsement of UT.”
The National Science Foundation has a long history with the Texas Advanced Computing Center and will oversee UT’s creation of the new facility, which will not only enhance UT’s research potential, but also that of researchers across the country who will have access to it.
“Our goal is really to have the nation’s scientists benefit from using this facility,” said Ed Walker, a program coordinator in the foundation’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure who has been working for 10 years to establish a Leadership-Class Computing Facility. “To enable and see transformative discoveries that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.”
Katie Antypas, director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, added that there is “tremendous” demand for the computing facility, which is also part of the agency’s strategy to advance collaborative AI education and research through the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, which Antypas leads.
“Support for basic research and computer science yields long-term benefits in the form of improvements in the quality of life, the ability to predict extreme weather events, advances in human health and our fundamental understanding of why we are here,” Antypas said.
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