Georgia Tech Secures $20 Million NSF Grant for AI Supercomputer Nexus

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant of $20 million to the Georgia Institute of Technology to construct a state-of-the-art supercomputer named Nexus, designed to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for scientific advancements. This initiative marks a significant investment in the U.S. scientific infrastructure, with the goal of bolstering research capabilities across various disciplines.

Nexus is envisioned to serve as a critical resource for the science and engineering research community, enhancing the nation's capacity for AI-driven scientific discovery. As stated in the NSF's official announcement, the supercomputer will function both as a standalone platform and as a gateway to utilize other national resources, thus accelerating the pace of scientific breakthroughs (NSF, July 20, 2025).

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera emphasized the institution's role in fostering AI talent and innovations, remarking, “It’s fitting we’ve been selected to host this new supercomputer, which will support a new wave of AI-centered innovation across the nation.” This sentiment reflects the growing recognition of Georgia Tech as a leader in AI research and development.

The Nexus supercomputer is expected to deliver extraordinary computational power, capable of performing up to 400 quadrillion operations per second. This immense processing capability is comparable to the combined efforts of the global population conducting 50 million calculations every second. Furthermore, Nexus will be equipped with 330 trillion bytes of memory and 10 quadrillion bytes of flash storage, a capacity so vast that it could theoretically create a column of paper reaching from Earth to the moon, with a significant distance still remaining (Georgia Tech, 2025).

Katie Antypas, director of the NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, noted that Nexus’s innovative approach would facilitate both persistent scientific services and traditional high-performance computing, thus enabling novel science and AI workflows. This advancement is anticipated to shorten the timeline needed for scientific discoveries (NSF, 2025).

In collaboration with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the construction of Nexus will pave the way for a high-speed network, establishing a national research infrastructure accessible to U.S. researchers. This partnership reflects a commitment to collaborative scientific advancement, with Charles Isbell, chancellor of the University of Illinois, stating, “Nexus is more than a supercomputer — it’s a symbol of what’s possible when leading institutions work together to advance science.”

Construction of Nexus is set to commence within the year, with anticipated completion by spring 2026. Georgia Tech will manage the supercomputer and reserve up to 10% of its capacity for internal campus research initiatives. Vivek Sarkar, the John P. Imlay Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech, expressed optimism regarding the project, asserting, “Nexus will help researchers make faster progress on today’s toughest problems — and open the door to discoveries we haven’t even imagined yet.”

The Nexus initiative underscores the importance of investing in advanced computing capabilities to maintain and enhance the United States' leading position in global scientific research and technology. As the nation progresses towards an AI-driven future, projects like Nexus will be instrumental in shaping the research landscape and fostering innovation across multiple sectors.