Hochul announces $40 million to launch Empire AI Beta supercomputer

ALBANY, N.Y. — Empire State Development (ESD) has approved $40 million to launch Empire AI Beta, the second phase of the supercomputer powering New York’s Empire AI (artificial intelligence) initiative. SUNY and Cornell University are among the seven founding members of Empire AI, and the group also includes CUNY (City University of New York), Columbia University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Flatiron Institute. Empire AI Beta will be 11 times more powerful than current capacity, allowing hundreds of researchers from the now 10 member institutions to continue to advance AI research for public good, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on June 26. Empire AI is now backed by more than $500 million in public and private funding, including up to $340 million in state capital funding that Hochul secured. “With Empire AI, New York is leading in emerging technology and ensuring the power of AI is harnessed for public good and developed right here in this great state,” Hochul contended in the June 26 announcement. “The launch of Beta will supercharge our efforts to advance responsible AI development by some of our brightest minds at research institutions focused on purpose, not profit.” The funding that ESD approved will allow the Empire AI consortium to purchase the equipment needed to power the second-phase supercomputer, housed at the University at Buffalo. Empire AI Beta will use NVIDIA’s Blackwell AI supercomputing platform. The new Beta system will “dramatically accelerate” Empire AI’s computing performance from the current Alpha system: 11-fold in AI training, 40-fold in AI inference, and an 8-fold increase in data storage, the state says. New York State also expects Empire AI Beta to be among the first academic deployments of NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD with DGX GB200 systems. Both the Alpha and Beta systems are running “only fractions” of Empire AI’s eventual computing power, but the new Beta system will propel Empire AI to become “one of the most advanced academic computers in the world,” Hochul’s office contends. “As AI research, development and usage grows, New York tech leaders are exploring new ways to utilize these advancements in ways that will generate solutions to complex issues and support positive growth,” Hope Knight, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development, said. “The $40 million in funding approved today by ESD’s Board of Directors represents a significant step forward that will increase the capacity of Empire AI and further enhance the AI research happening throughout our state.” Empire AI is made up of 10 member universities and research institutions. As part of the latest state budget, Hochul secured $90 million in new capital funding to “substantially increase” the computing power of Empire AI and expand access for SUNY researchers. The funding will also help support the addition of new members including the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The new Beta system builds on the successful 2024 launch of Alpha, which was made possible by philanthropic support from the Simons Foundation, Hochul’s office said. Planning and development of the full-scale Empire AI computing center is underway. Empire AI Alpha and Empire AI Beta allow member institutions to conduct AI research “as soon as possible” until the full-scale system is complete. “With the launch of Beta, Empire AI is unleashing a game-changing level of computational power to serve researchers across New York,” Robert Harrison, interim executive director of Empire AI, said in the state’s announcement. “From cancer diagnostics to climate modeling, this system will accelerate innovation across fields — while putting New York at the forefront of responsible AI development. Thanks to the vision of Governor Hochul and our expanding roster of top-tier academic partners, we are building something truly unprecedented: a public AI research powerhouse designed to benefit everyone.”