In a development that could boost employment at Cray’s facility in Chippewa Falls, the company has announced that it is taking over construction of a $300 million super computer at the University of Illinois.
The Blue Waters project has been stalled since the original vendor, International Business Machines Corp., pulled out. IBM cited cost and technical issues, but the Seattle-based Cray says it will complete the project on time and on budget next year.
The university’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications acted quickly to select another vendor for the project, which is being funded by the National Science Foundation. Cray will be paid $188 million to continue the work as part of what CEO Peter Ungaro characterized as a “transformational contract” for the company.
When completed, the super computer will be used in studies ranging from how tornadoes form to how viruses invade cells.
The Blue Waters project, once of the largest contracts in Cray’s history, helps to solidify the company’s position in the supercomputing industry. It comes on the heels of a $97 million contract to upgrade the Jaguar system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee.
