Empire AI Goes Live as NSF Launches $100 Million Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs Program

On August 4, 2026, the U.S. National Science Foundation launched a $100 million program to fund up to 10 regional AI infrastructure hubs, partnering with tech giants like NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and Dell. In parallel, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the $40 million NVIDIA-powered Empire AI Beta supercomputer is online at the University at Buffalo. Delivering an 11-fold increase in training capacity, the system has over 300 queued projects, serving as a model for the federal regional hub initiative.

Empire AI Beta launch

• ▪Governor Kathy Hochul announced on August 5, 2026, that the Empire AI Beta supercomputer is officially online at the State University of New York at Buffalo
• ▪The Empire AI Beta is a $40 million NVIDIA-powered supercomputer designed to expand academic research computing power across New York State

NSF regional infrastructure hubs

• ▪Private-sector and philanthropic partners supporting the National Science Foundation hubs program include NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Dell Technologies, Hangar, and the Secunda Innovation Fund
• ▪The U.S. National Science Foundation announced a $100 million program on August 4, 2026, to establish up to 10 state and regional artificial intelligence infrastructure hubs

Computing capacity expansion

• ▪The Empire AI Beta supercomputer provides an 8-fold expansion in data storage capacity compared to the initial Empire AI Alpha system
• ▪The Empire AI Beta supercomputer delivers an 11-fold increase in artificial intelligence training capacity and a 40-fold boost in inference compared to the 2024 Alpha system

Research applications across fields

• ▪The National Science Foundation's National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program supported more than 700 research projects over a two-year period
• ▪More than 300 academic research projects are queued to use the Empire AI Beta system in fields such as healthcare, climate science, and cybersecurity

Consortium membership expansion

• ▪The founding members of the Empire AI consortium include the State University of New York, City University of New York, Columbia, Cornell, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Flatiron Institute
• ▪Governor Kathy Hochul secured funding in May 2025 to expand the Empire AI consortium to include the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Gamma facility construction timeline

• ▪Construction is underway on Empire AI's permanent, full-scale Gamma facility at the University at Buffalo, with completion scheduled by the end of 2027
• ▪The permanent Empire AI Gamma facility will integrate into the University at Buffalo's thermal energy network to heat campus buildings using process heat