Microsoft has announced that it is investing $60 million to advance AI for the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission on Wednesday. File Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo
Microsoft has announced that it is investing $60 million to advance AI for the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission on Wednesday.
The investment will be used to advance AI for scientific research in the Genesis Mission, a program that brings together 17 national laboratories through AI-enabled research and development.
In unison with the investment, Microsoft announced it is launching a new program called “SPARK” which stands for Scientific Partnership Advancing Research and Knowledge. It is described as a management office for the Genesis Mission.
Microsoft says SPARK will help facilitate secure collaboration across the institutions involved in the Genesis Mission.
“We are entering an era where AI and quantum don’t just support the scientific process — they are essential to it,” Microsoft said in its blog announcing the Genesis Mission investment. “Through the Genesis Mission, Microsoft is committing to work as part of America’s research enterprise by providing hyperscale compute, advanced models, emerging quantum capabilities and dedicated expertise that run alongside the labs’ own world-leading systems.”
The Department of Energy says the Genesis Mission “unites DOE National Labs, industry, academia, and more to harness AI for breakthroughs in energy dominance, discovery science, and national security.”
Microsoft’s investment earmarks $40 million in Azure compute and AI credits to the program, distributed over three years. The remaining $20 million will go toward “solution engineering enablement services” focused on “engineering, architecture, deployment, adoption and acceleration support to turn cloud and AI capacity into operational outcomes.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
