Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) and Dell Technologies (DELL, Financial) are teaming up to power the U.S. Department of Energy's next flagship supercomputer, Doudna, set to debut in 2026.
Named for Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, the system will feature Dell's NERSC-10 architecture at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, accelerated by Nvidia's forthcoming Vera Rubin GPU platform.
DOE Secretary Chris Wright says Doudna will “compress years of discovery into days,” tackling large-scale workloads in molecular dynamics, high-energy physics and AI training and inference. Connected via ESnet, Doudna will stream data from DOE's experimental facilities nationwide for near-real-time analysis, boosting rapid innovation in energy research and quantum computing.
Jensen Huang hailed the machine as “a time machine for science,” while NERSC Director Sudip Dosanjh highlighted its role in giving U.S. scientists the edge in the global AI race. The contract cements Nvidia's leadership in HPC accelerators and extends Dell's footprint in ultra-high-performance systems after its recent Aurora wins.
Investors should care because Doudna underscores surging demand for AI and HPC infrastructure—sectors where NVDA's data-center GPUs and DELL's enterprise server revenue have become critical growth drivers.
With DOE set to award more national-lab supercomputing contracts this year, markets will watch for early Vera Rubin benchmarks and Dell's design wins as harbingers of wider commercial adoption.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has a 12-month price target of $172.50, suggesting nearly 24% upside, according to GuruFocus. The most bullish projection goes as high as $372.90, while the lowest stands at $100. The GF Value estimate is $265.60, indicating potential undervaluation. Analysts appear confident in Nvidia's AI-driven momentum heading into 2026, despite recent market volatility.
