SDSC NAIRR Operations Center launch

Citation

Bruch, Kimberly Mann. “Strengthening America’s AI Ecosystem with the Launch of the NSF NAIRR Operations Center.” News release, San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), UC San Diego, Sept. 1, 2026. https://www.sdsc.edu/news/2026/PR20260901-NAIRR-OC.html. Read 2026-10-15.

Bottom line

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) gave SDSC a $35 million, five-year award. SDSC will run the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) with the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC).
A UC campus now runs the national front door for public AI compute.

Background

The NAIRR Pilot began in January 2024. The NAIRR-OC is the step from pilot to “a long-term national capability”. SDSC leads; TACC is the partner. (paragraphs 1 to 3)

Key claims

NSF “awarded a $35 million cooperative award over five years” to SDSC to run the NSF NAIRR-OC. (paragraph 1)
Ashley Atkins, Maytal Dahan, Subhashini Sivagnanam and Mahidhar Tatineni are co-PIs. (leadership box)
The center will “coordinate participating private-sector, federal and academic resource providers”, “build and operate a unified national NAIRR portal”, provide “user support, documentation, training, outreach and engagement”, and “establish a NAIRR user forum”. (section “A National Connective Layer for AI”)
“This partnership reflects a broader national strategy: integrate leading existing capabilities rather than build isolated infrastructure.” (section “Building on Complementary Expertise”)
UC San Diego “leads the NSF-supported National Data Platform (NDP) and National Research Platform (NRP)”. (same section)
The center will strengthen “a public-private partnership model that enables academic researchers to benefit from rapidly evolving AI capabilities while advancing open, independent foundational research.” (same section)
The NAIRR-OC is “specifically aligned with the White House’s Genesis Mission”. (section “Workforce, Discovery and Economic Impact”)
“The NAIRR Pilot, launched in January 2024, has connected approximately 900 research teams and educators across all 50 states”. NSF award number 2616251. (closing notes)

Evidence and method

A press release from the awardee. The award number lets a reader check the NSF record.

Limits

Written by SDSC about its own award. It gives no start date, budget split or user numbers for the new center.
It does not say how many California users the NAIRR Pilot served.

Source file: wiki/sources/SDSC NAIRR Operations Center launch.md, updated 2026-10-15.