The U.S. Department of Energy has selected the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News to lead its new High Performance Data Facility Hub (HPDF) near Tech Center Research Park. This initiative represents a significant technology investment in the Hampton Roads area, with an estimated cost ranging from $300 million to $500 million. The facility will serve as a computing and data infrastructure resource, offering advanced capabilities for data analysis, networking, and storage to support the nation’s research endeavors.
The HPDF will be located in the Jefferson Lab Data Center Building, with construction funded by the state, taking approximately five to six years. Virginia has already provided $6 million in seed funding and has committed to providing $43 million for the project. The facility hub will diversify the lab for the future, attract economic development, and foster collaboration with universities and businesses.
Jefferson Lab’s Associate Director for Computational Science and Technology, Amber Boehnlein says, “Jefferson Lab has assembled an amazing team to launch this project,” she said in a statement. “Building on our broad experience in leading large, complex projects and research programs for the Office of Science, we look forward to delivering and operating a data facility that will power discoveries across a wide range of scientific disciplines and create a trove of valuable data for researchers, today and in the future.”
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