AMD partners with the U.S. Department of Energy to launch a $1 billion supercomputing initiative aimed at tackling cancer and nuclear fusion challenges

According to Reuters, chip giant AMD$AMD(AMD.US) will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy on a major $1 billion project to jointly develop two next-generation supercomputers. Following the announcement, AMD's stock rose 1.3% on Monday. The partnership aims to leverage cutting-edge computing power to accelerate breakthroughs in critical scientific challenges such as cancer treatment and nuclear energy development.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that these new supercomputing systems will "significantly advance" progress in related fields. He hopes to transform most cancers from "death sentences" into "manageable conditions" and believes that with the powerful computing capabilities of these systems, humanity could find practical pathways to harness fusion energy within the next two to three years.

The project will be implemented in two phases:

The first supercomputer, named "Lux," will be completed and operational in approximately six months. Its core will feature AMD's MI355X AI accelerators, developed jointly by AMD, HPE, Oracle Cloud, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The second system, "Discovery," is scheduled for delivery in 2028 and operational launch in 2029. It will be equipped with AMD's more advanced MI430 series AI accelerators and developed through collaboration between AMD, HPE, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su expressed honor regarding the collaboration, noting in a statement that these supercomputers will utilize AMD's high-performance computing and AI technologies to advance U.S. priorities in critical research areas such as science, energy, and medicine, demonstrating the best of public-private partnerships.

AI Index Performance Watch: AI-Themed ETFs Shine as AGIX Significantly Outperforms Major Market Indices

In the latest trading session, AI-themed indices and ETFs showed strong overall performance, reflecting sustained market appeal. Notably, the closely watched AI index AGIX$KraneShares Artfcl Intllgnc and Tech ETF(AGIX.US) rose 2.10%, outperforming both the S&P 500's 1.23% gain and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ)'s 1.78% daily growth rate.

From a longer-term perspective, AGIX's lead is even more pronounced. Its year-to-date (YTD) return stands at 37.97%, with a staggering total return of 90.04% since 2024. In comparison, the S&P 500's YTD and 2024-to-date returns are 16.89% and 44.14%, respectively, while QQQ's figures are 22.86% and 53.37%. The data clearly shows that AGIX has significantly outperformed both major U.S. market indices across all time frames.

The broader AI ETF sector also saw widespread gains. CHAT (+2.75%), THNQ (+2.47%), and AIQ (+2.21%) posted particularly notable single-day increases, slightly ahead of AGIX. Other similar ETFs like LOUP (+1.60%), BOTZ (+1.19%), ROBT (+1.14%), RBOT (+0.98%), and IGV (+0.93%) also recorded positive growth, collectively confirming the heated momentum in the AI space.

AGIX's strong performance was primarily driven by significant gains in its core holdings. The top five contributors to the index's growth all showed outstanding stock price movements, including Nebius (+6.97%)$Nebius(NBIS.US) , SK hynix (+4.9%), Tesla (+4.31%)$Tesla(TSLA.US) , Alphabet Inc. (+3.6%)$Alphabet - C(GOOG.US) , and NVIDIA (+2.81%)$NVIDIA(NVDA.US) . The exceptional performance of these key components collectively drove AGIX's overall index growth.

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