Story perspectives

UT Austin's Horizon Supercomputer to Revolutionize AI Research

11/18/2025

Summary

Story summary

The University of Texas at Austin will acquire more than 4,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to power the Horizon supercomputer.
Horizon will be ten times more powerful than Frontera, with a launch planned next year.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Texas Legislature to advance AI and quantum science.
UT Austin's Center for Generative AI will gain access to advanced computing resources for societal research.

History

Historical Context

In 2019, the National Science Foundation allocated $100 million to enhance supercomputing capabilities in U.S. universities, building on earlier initiatives like the TeraGrid project launched in 2001. This funding supported projects such as Frontera at the University of Texas at Austin, reflecting a commitment to maintain U.S. leadership in scientific research amid growing global competition, particularly from China's rapidly advancing supercomputing sector.

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Story summary

The University of Texas at Austin will acquire more than 4,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to power the Horizon supercomputer.
Horizon will be ten times more powerful than Frontera, with a launch planned next year.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Texas Legislature to advance AI and quantum science.
UT Austin's Center for Generative AI will gain access to advanced computing resources for societal research.

1 / 2