On June 26, New York State President Kathy Hochul announced that the board of directors of the New York State Economic Development (ESD) has approved $40 million in funding to start the Empire AI Beta project, which will be used to build supercomputers and promote New York's leading position in the field of artificial intelligence.
Empire AI Beta's computing power will be much better than the current system, which will enable hundreds of researchers from 10 research institutions to continue to promote public interest-oriented AI research. The plan has received more than $500 million in public and private sector funding, including up to $340 million in state capital funds won by Hochule.
Prince Hochule said: "With Empire AI, New York is leading in the field of Newcomer technology, ensuring that the power of AI is used in the public interest and developing in this huge state." She emphasized that Beta's startup will accelerate the development of responsible AI and be promoted by the head of the most outstanding research institutions.
The approved funds will enable Empire AI Alliance to purchase the required equipment, and the supercomputer will be found at the University at Buffalo. Empire AI Beta will use NVIDIA's Blackwell AI architecture supercomputer platform, and will increase AI training speed by 11 times, AI inference by 40 times, and data storage capacity by 8 times. This new system is expected to become one of the world's most advanced academic computers.
Empire AI's temporary executive director Robert Harrison said: "Beta's startup brings overwhelming computing power to researchers in New York, from cancer diagnosis to climate simulations, and innovation in various fields will accelerate. We are building a truly unprecedented public AI research base."
NVIDIA's AI Public Affairs Officer Michael Isadore pointed out that providing accelerated computing for academic research will promote economic growth and scientific discovery. Empire AI team provides New York researchers with state-of-the-art NVIDIA-based facilities to promote breakthrough advances in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
With the growth of AI research and development, New York technology leaders are exploring new ways to leverage these advances to solve complex problems and grow vigorously. The ESD Board of Directors approved funds, which will further enhance Empire AI's computing capabilities and promote AI research across the state.
State of New York Invests $40M to Launch Empire AI Beta with NVIDIA Blackwell Supercomputing Governor Hochul Announces $40 Million to Launch Empire AI Beta Supercomputer Extended reading: Be careful! New York market will become a new resurgence in AI startup New York starts new nuclear power plant planning to fight the AI power consumption trend