Nvidia (NVDA, Financials) and Dell (DELL, Financials) on Thursday announced a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the Doudna supercomputer, which will be deployed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2026. The DOE said the system is named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and will be powered by Dell infrastructure and Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI platform.
Doudna's performance output is expected to exceed that of Berkeley Lab's current Perlmutter system by a factor of three to five, while requiring only double or triple the power. According to the Department of Energy, the system will support high-performance computing workloads ranging from molecular dynamics to AI model training.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the project will “advance American leadership in science, AI, and high-performance computing.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the project “a time machine for science,” enabling faster discovery across cancer treatments, quantum breakthroughs and foundational physics.
The DOE said Doudna will support over 11,000 researchers and will bring together simulation, AI, and massive data sets on a single platform. Dell CEO Michael Dell (Trades, Portfolio) said the system would redefine the limits of high-performance computing and help address global scientific challenges.
Investors may view the Doudna contract as a long-term catalyst for Nvidia and Dell, reinforcing their roles in national strategic infrastructure. Key upcoming events to watch include AI chip demand updates and the DOE's rollout timeline.
