The HPDF is expected to employ 100 to 200 people across multiple sites, though not all roles will be located in Virginia.

Virginia Tech and SURATech, led by SURA, will anchor modernization efforts, leveraging university expertise and the Spark Institute to support Jefferson Lab priorities.

The Jefferson Lab Data Center (JLDC) groundbreaking inaugurates the High-Performance Data Facility (HPDF) project on the Newport News campus, marking a major expansion beyond traditional nuclear physics work.

Jefferson Lab is building a roughly 30,000-square-foot data center as the hub for the HPDF, designed to accelerate data management and AI-enabled discovery across DOE programs.

The project highlights a federal-state-local partnership and is framed as an investment in regional economic development and scientific infrastructure in Virginia.

HPDF aims to break down silos by standardizing data and enabling AI to unify datasets from diverse scientific communities.

Policy considerations are highlighted to address AI-related challenges, including national and personal security, data center proliferation, and energy usage.

The facility is planned with a power service of about one megawatt for the building, while HPDF operations may require around five megawatts for computing and cooling.

HPDF seeks to consolidate data, instruments, and computing to accelerate discovery and enable AI-enabled scientific workflows across the DOE complex.

When operational by 2030, the HPDF data hub will move data up to 10,000 times faster than typical consumer internet, enabling cross-disciplinary research by integrating data from fields like biology and astronomy.

The lab is collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on building high-performance computing hardware, with input from Southeastern Universities Research Association to ensure data standardization.

The project is part of DOE’s Genesis Mission, with total costs up to $500 million; the Jefferson Lab Data Center itself is financed by Virginia at about $49 million.