The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and its partners $20 million to build their new Nexus supercomputer that aims to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI)-driven research and scientific discovery.
According to the July 15 announcement from Georgia Tech, the Nexus supercomputer is intended to help scientists address critical challenges – including developing new medicines, advancing clean energy solutions, understanding brain function, and driving innovation in manufacturing.
By combining AI with high-performance computing, the system will give researchers the capacity to tackle problems that are currently beyond the reach of existing technologies, Georgia Tech said.
Built specifically for AI, Nexus will provide access to researchers across the country and make cutting-edge computing resources more widely available. With its user-friendly interface, Nexus is expected to support work in diverse fields such as climate science, health, aerospace, robotics, and quantum materials.
The supercomputer will be capable of more than 400 quadrillion operations per second – the equivalent of every person on Earth performing 50 million calculations per second. Nexus will also feature 330 trillion bytes of memory and 10 quadrillion bytes of flash storage, making it one of the most advanced AI-focused research tools in the United States.
Georgia Tech will begin construction of Nexus this year, with completion expected in spring 2026. Once operational, the system will be managed by Georgia Tech, which will provide support and reserve up to 10 percent of the computer’s capacity for its own campus research needs.
“This supercomputer will help level the playing field,” said Suresh Marru, principal investigator of the Nexus project and director of Georgia Tech’s new Center for AI in Science and Engineering (ARTISAN). “It’s designed to make powerful AI tools easier to use and available to more researchers in more places.”
“Nexus will help researchers make faster progress on today’s toughest problems – and open the door to discoveries we haven’t even imagined yet,” added Vivek Sarkar, the John P. Imlay Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech is partnering with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to build Nexus. The two institutions will connect their systems through a new high-speed network, creating a national research infrastructure that will enable scientists from any U.S. institution to apply for access.
“Nexus is more than a supercomputer – it’s a symbol of what’s possible when leading institutions work together to advance science,” said Charles Isbell, chancellor of the University of Illinois and former dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “I’m proud that my two academic homes have partnered on this project.”
