Digital Event Horizon
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has recently announced a significant investment in high-performance computing, with the development of a new supercomputer system called Doudna. Built by Dell and powered by NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin platform, this cutting-edge system is designed to accelerate Nobel-worthy science across various fields, including fusion energy, materials science, drug discovery, astronomy, and more.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to develop a new supercomputer system called Doudna.Doudna is named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and promises to deliver unparalleled performance in real-time discovery across the DOE's most urgent scientific missions.The system will be built by Dell infrastructure with NVIDIA technology, merging simulation, data, and AI into a single seamless platform for over 11,000 researchers.Doudna is designed to accelerate breakthroughs in fields like fusion energy, materials science, and drug discovery, as well as astronomy research.The system will support traditional HPC, cutting-edge AI, real-time streaming, and even quantum workflows, including scalable quantum algorithm development.Deployment of Doudna is slated for 2026, with the system expected to outperform its predecessor by more than 10x in scientific output while using just 2-3x the power.
In a groundbreaking announcement made at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has revealed plans to develop a new supercomputer system called Doudna. This ambitious project represents a major national investment in advancing U.S. high-performance computing leadership and ensuring American researchers have access to cutting-edge tools to address global challenges.
Named after Nobel laureate and CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, this next-generation system is designed not just for speed but for impact. According to Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, "Doudna is a time machine for science - compressing years of discovery into days, and giving the world's toughest problems the power they've been waiting for."
The Doudna supercomputer system will be built by Dell infrastructure with the NVIDIA Vera Rubin architecture, which promises to deliver unparalleled performance in real-time discovery across the U.S. Department of Energy's most urgent scientific missions. This system is specifically tailored for real-time discovery, allowing scientists to delve deeper and think bigger to seek the fundamental truths of the universe.
Unlike traditional systems that operate in silos, Doudna merges simulation, data, and AI into a single seamless platform. This innovative design empowers over 11,000 researchers with almost instantaneous responsiveness and integrated workflows, enabling them to explore bigger questions and reach answers faster than ever before.
One of the key applications of this system is in the field of fusion energy. Breakthroughs in simulation that unlock clean fusion energy will be accelerated by Doudna's advanced computing capabilities. Materials science research will also benefit from AI models designed to create new classes of superconducting materials, while drug discovery researchers will utilize ultrarapid workflows to help biologists fold proteins fast enough to outpace a pandemic.
In addition, Doudna is poised to make significant strides in astronomy, enabling real-time processing of data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This critical data flow will be prioritized by intelligent QoS mechanisms, ensuring it stays fast and uninterrupted, from input to insight.
The platform for what's next: Unlocking Quantum and HPC Workflows
Doudna supports traditional high-performance computing (HPC), cutting-edge AI, real-time streaming, and even quantum workflows. This includes support for scalable quantum algorithm development and the co-design of future integrated quantum-HPC systems, using platforms like NVIDIA CUDA-Q.
Researchers are already porting full pipelines using frameworks like PyTorch, the NVIDIA Holoscan software development kit, NVIDIA TensorFlow, NVIDIA cuDNN, and NVIDIA CUDA-Q, all optimized for the system's Rubin GPUs and NVIDIA NVLink architecture. Over 20 research teams have begun to develop their workflows through the NERSC Science Acceleration Program, tackling challenges across a wide range of scientific disciplines.
The deployment of Doudna is slated for 2026, with the system expected to outperform its predecessor, Perlmutter, by more than 10x in scientific output while using just 2-3x the power. This translates to a 3-5x increase in performance per watt, a result of innovations in chip design, dynamic load balancing, and system-level efficiencies.
With Doudna on the horizon, the United States Department of Energy is poised to lead a new era of accelerated science. This groundbreaking supercomputer system represents a major step forward for American researchers, ensuring they have access to cutting-edge tools to address global challenges and secure the nation's competitive edge in key technological fields.
Related Information:
https://www.digitaleventhorizon.com/articles/Doudna-A-Revolutionary-Supercomputer-Designed-to-Accelerate-Breakthroughs-in-Science-deh.shtml
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/dell-nvidia-berkeley-doudna/
Published: Thu May 29 15:28:16 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
