NCSA to Deploy DeltaAI Supercomputer for National Science Foundation Research

The National Science Foundation has entered into a new cooperative agreement with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to deploy an artificial intelligence-enabled supercomputer in support of AI research.

NCSA received a $10 million award for the effort, under which the DeltaAI supercomputer will complement NCSA’s Delta system, which the NSF’s Innovative High-Performance Computing Program funded.

DeltaAI will use a similar system and storage hardware and offer the same high-speed interconnect as the Delta system. It will feature next-generation graphics processors designed to enable a threefold increase in AI computing capability when integrated with the Delta infrastructure, NCSA said.

Under the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, the NSF was directed to form a task force to explore the creation of a National AI Research Resource. The NAIRR Task Force recommended increasing research funding for machine learning and AI, noting that more resources are needed to strengthen the AI innovation ecosystem.

NCSA Director Bill Gropp said the DeltaAI project seeks to expand the use of AI methods in research and democratize high-performance computing.