Aurora Supercomputer Officially Launched, Ushering in a New Era of AI-Powered Scientific Discovery

On July 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) celebrated a major milestone in scientific computing with the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Aurora exascale supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The event brought together leaders and researchers from the DOE, Intel, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to commemorate the successful deployment of one of the world’s most powerful computing systems—marking a transformative moment for artificial intelligence-driven science.

Aurora is now fully operational and represents a key step in advancing U.S. leadership in high-performance computing (HPC) and AI research. Designed through a long-standing collaboration between Argonne, Intel, and HPE, Aurora delivers performance at the exascale level—capable of executing more than a quintillion (10¹⁸) calculations per second.

More than just a technological feat, Aurora is already driving breakthroughs across disciplines. From mapping the human brain at unprecedented resolution to accelerating aircraft design and improving climate predictions, Aurora enables scientists to combine AI and physics-based simulations to solve some of the most complex challenges in science and engineering.

"This is a monumental achievement not only for the DOE and its partners, but for the entire scientific community," said DOE Under Secretary for Science and Innovation. "Aurora stands as a testament to what public-private collaboration can achieve in pushing the boundaries of discovery."

With Aurora now live, the scientific world enters a new era—where artificial intelligence, machine learning, and exascale computing converge to enable insights previously out of reach. The system will support cutting-edge research through DOE's Exascale Computing Project and beyond, unlocking new possibilities in energy, materials science, biomedical research, and national security.