The U.S. Department of Energy is nearing a deal to purchase a supercomputer made with chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) as a key lab waits for a larger supercomputer from Intel Corp (INTC.O) that has been delayed for months, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Nvidia and AMD machine, to be called Polaris, will not be a replacement for the Intel-based Aurora machine slated for the Argonne National Lab near Chicago, which was poised to be the nation’s fastest computer when announced in 2019.
Instead, Polaris, which will come online this year, will be a test machine for Argonne to start readying its software for the Intel machine, the people familiar with the matter said.
Argonne spokesperson Ben Schiltz did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did AMD spokesperson Aaron Grabein. Nvidia spokesperson Ken Brown declined to comment.
