Representatives from the University of Florida, state lawmakers and other supporters gathered at UF’s East Campus in Gainesville on Tuesday morning to celebrate the unveiling of the fourth-generation version of the university’s HiPerGator supercomputer.
The latest HiPerGator is the fastest university-owned supercomputer in the U.S., further advancing UF’s drive to be a national leader when it comes to AI education and research.
“As Florida’s flagship university, UF has embraced a bold and audacious vision: to be the nation’s AI university,” UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said while offering remarks. “Our commitment to AI is not just promoting economic growth across the state and giving our students the tools they need to be America’s next generation of leaders. It is also protecting lives every day, preserving resources, feeding the world, improving health outcomes and making Florida stronger, safer and better prepared for tomorrow.”
HiPerGator, located at UF’s Data Center on the East Campus, is the latest upgrade in UF’s supercomputer, which dates to 2013 with the investment of HiPerGator 1.0. This was followed by HiPerGator 2 in 2015.
“…In 2020, we made a quantum leap with the gift of HiPerGator 3 from Chris Malachowsky [co-founder of NVIDIA],” Elias Eldayrie, senior vice president and chief information officer (CFO) for UF, said while giving remarks. “His gift laid the groundwork for UF’s investment in HiPerGator 4th Gen.”
In December 2024, the UF Board of Trustees approved investing $24 million to purchase a more advanced version of UF’s HiPerGator.
As part of this upgrade, the NVIDIA DGX A100 – a part of the supercomputer originally donated by Malachowsky – was replaced with a DGX B200 “Blackwell” Superpod, which measures 30 times faster than the previous HiPerGator generation.
NVIDIA was among those who helped jointly install the DGZ B200 Superpod for the fourth-generation HiPerGator.
“This incredible partnership with NVIDIA and the University of Florida is really a testament to the next generation in technology that will power the next generation of thinkers, doers, innovators…” U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack said while offering remarks.
Malachowsky, who is also a UF alumnus, said he was happy to have been a part of the evolution of HiPerGator, but made sure to also give credit to the leadership at UF.
“What they’ve done here, this group of folks and your leadership…represents a model that I think is going to transform the nation,” he said. “It’s bold. It’s powerful. It’s going to be impactful.”
While speaking, Eldayrie said that as of Tuesday morning, “$805 million worth of research is being empowered by HiPerGator.”
He added that HiPerGator has also helped “transform” UF’s classrooms.
“We have more than 2,000 students taking classes in AI. We have more than 42 courses in AI offered every day, and we have AI…across the curriculum, giving every UF student in every discipline the opportunity to learn about AI.”
Following Tuesday’s ceremony, attendees had the opportunity to go on a guided tour through the data center to see the latest version of HiPerGator.
During a tour with media members, Erik Deumens, director for the department of Research Computing in UF Information Technology, said the planning is already underway for the fifth generation of HiPerGator.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
