Nvidia, Dell To Build DOE’s Doudna Supercomputer – ‘Time Machine for Science,’ Says Jensen Huang

The system slated to launch in 2026 will be built using Dell’s advanced liquid-cooled server architecture and Nvidia’s newly announced Vera Rubin platform.

Nvidia (NVDA) and Dell Technologies (DELL) are teaming up with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build its ‘Doudna’ supercomputer, the agency announced Thursday.

Slated to launch in 2026, Doudna will be housed at the DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). 

The system will be built using Dell’s advanced liquid-cooled server architecture and Nvidia’s newly announced Vera Rubin platform, which combines GPUs and CPUs optimized for both AI and high-performance computing (HPC).

According to the DOE, Doudna will deliver more than ten times the performance of Perlmutter, NERSC’s current flagship supercomputer. 

Its capabilities are expected to enhance research in molecular dynamics, high-energy physics, and artificial intelligence, supporting both training and inference at scale.

“Doudna is a time machine for science–compressing years of discovery into days,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

The supercomputer is named after Jennifer Doudna, the Berkeley Lab-based biochemist and Nobel laureate credited with co-discovering the gene-editing technology CRISPR.

NERSC Director Sudip Dosanjh stated the lab is working with Nvidia and Dell to help its 11,000 users prepare for the system’s new capabilities. “The Doudna supercomputer is designed to accelerate a broad set of scientific workflows,” he said.

Beyond traditional HPC, Doudna will support quantum simulation research using Nvidia’s CUDA-Q platform. This includes the development of large-scale quantum algorithms, modeling of quantum systems, and co-design of future hybrid quantum-HPC systems.

The system will feature Dell Integrated Rack Scalable Systems and PowerEdge servers equipped with Nvidia accelerators. 

It will also include Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand networking and data infrastructure capable of handling automated, AI-driven workflows and interactive computing across multiple facilities.

The DOE said Doudna will be used to integrate AI more deeply into modeling and simulation tasks across scientific disciplines, from biomolecular modeling to materials design.

Nvidia’s stock edged 0.5% lower in pre-market trade on Friday. The shares have gained 2.4% this year and 23% over the past 23 months. 

Meanwhile, Dell’s stock was down 1.65% in pre-market trade on Friday after the chip maker reported mixed first-quarter (Q1) results. Its shares are down 1.4% this year and have fallen over 30% in the last 12 months.

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