Financing Options for Supercomputer Hardware at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking information from qualified financial institutions, leasing providers, or other organizations capable of offering lease-to-own (LTO) financing for a leadership-class high-performance computing (HPC) supercomputer system named Discovery. The system will be sited at ORNL and is expected to have a total hardware value or financing amount of approximately $350M-$450M. The expected contract term is approximately 5 years, with fixed interest rates and monthly or quarterly payments. ORNL is seeking LTO financing options and plans to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) in late 2026. • The Discovery supercomputer system will be based on the HPE Cray Supercomputing GX5000, a next-generation supercomputer powered by AMD EPYC "Venice" processors and AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs. • The system will continue ORNL's and DOE's proven record of HPC leadership, supporting scientists in achieving cutting-edge breakthroughs and providing unprecedented computational science capabilities for the nation. • ORNL finances large HPC procurements with lease-to-own financing, as authorized by DOE Order 130.1A 4.a(13). • The RFI is issued solely for market research and planning purposes, and responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by UT-Battelle to form a binding contract.