The US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory has deployed a SambaNova DataScale system.

SambaNova developed its own 'DataScale SN30' processor, but only sells it as part of a wider DataScale package, which includes conventional chips, memory, and proprietary software. Argonne previously used an earlier generation of SambaNova systems.

The Argonne deployment features eight DataScale units, each with eight DataScale SN30s.

“With the rollout of Argonne’s SambaNova systems, we’re seeing scientists use novel AI architectures for pioneering research in areas ranging from climate predictions to neutrino physics,” Rick Stevens, Argonne’s associate laboratory director for Computing, Environment, and Life Sciences, said.

“The new SambaNova system will help boost AI-driven research including our efforts to use deep learning to predict how tumors respond to various drug combinations and, in general, foundation AI models for science.”

The deployment is part of a wider DOE effort to test out novel computing approaches for AI workloads. Other deployments include equipment from Cerebras Systems, Groq, Graphcore, and Intel's Habana Labs.

“The multi-year deal being announced today is an expansion of our current partnership with Argonne National Laboratory,” said Marshall Choy, SVP of product at SambaNova Systems.

“The partnership showcases Argonne’s adoption of a multi-rack SambaNova system and joint efforts on implementing challenging foundation model and deep learning workloads. For scientific research organizations, this means new experiments and discoveries with the potential to change the world.”