ALCF AI Testbed

The ALCF AI Testbed provides an infrastructure for the next-generation of AI-accelerator machines. 

The AI Testbed aims to help evaluate the usability and performance of machine learning-based high-performance computing applications running on these accelerators. The goal is to better understand how to integrate with existing and upcoming supercomputers at the facility to accelerate science insights.

We are currently offering allocations on our Cerebras CS-2 and SambaNova DataScale systems. 

 

AI-Testbed Links

AI Testbed Guide

Support

Request an Allocation on Cerebras and/or SambaNova

Apply for Time

Email us for more information

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Systems

Cerebras CS-2 (Available for Allocation Requests)

Cerebras CS-2 Wafer-Scale Deep Learning Accelerator

  • 850,000 Processing Cores
  • 2.6 Trillion Transistors, 7nm
  • 40GB On-Chip SRAM; 220 Pb/s Interconnect Bandwidth
  • The Cerebras Software Platform (CSoft), Tensorflow, PyTorch
  • Accepting proposal submissions for usage
Cerebras CS-2

SambaNova Dataflow (Available for Allocation Requests)

SambaNova Dataflow

  • > 40 Billion Transistors, 7nm
  • RDU-Connect
  • SambaFlow software stack, PyTorch
  • Accepting proposal submissions for usage
SambaNova

Graphcore MK1

Graphcore Intelligent Processing Unit (IPU)

  • 1216 IPU Tiles, 14nm
  • > 23 Billion Transistors
  • IPU-Links interconnect
  • Poplar Software stack, PyTorch, Tensorflow
graphcore

Groq

Groq Tensor Streaming Processor

  • > 26 Billion Transistors, 14nm
  • Chip-to-Chip interconnect
  • GroqWare software stack, Onnx
Groq

Habana Gaudi

Habana Gaudi Tensor Processing Cores

  • 16nm
  • Integrated 100GbE based interconnect
  • Synapse AI Software, PyTorch, Tensorflow
Habana Gaudi

Access and Support

Our AI accelerator systems are available to the research community with proven problems to solve. Researchers can now submit project proposals for the Cerebras CS-2 and SambaNova DataScale platforms via the ALCF’s Director’s Discretionary program. There is no submission deadline; proposals will be accepted throughout the year. Access to additional testbed resources, including Graphcore, Groq, and Habana accelerators, will be announced at a later date. 

To apply for time, submit a proposal: Allocation Request Form

More about how to use our AI Testbed: AI Testbed User Guides

Please contact support@alcf.anl.gov with any questions.

Success Stories

Cerebras Systems and ALCF Fireside Chat at SC21

At SC21, Venkat Vishwanath (Data Science Team Lead, Argonne Leadership Computing Facility), Jessica Liu (Product Director, Cerebras Systems), and Rebecca Lewington (Technology Evangelist, Cerebras Systems) discuss Argonne's work with a Cerebras CS-2 system and ALCF's new AI Testbed. [Video]

Accelerating Scientific Applications With SambaNova Reconfig

Scientists at ALCF are exploring novel AI-hardware systems, such as SambaNova, in an attempt to address the challenges in scaling the performance of AI models. [Video]

Argonne accelerates COVID antiviral discovery with AI

Using the Groq platform at the ALCF AI Testbed, researchers were able to speed the process of searching through a vast number of small molecules to find promising drug candidates.

Argonne collaborations bring computational tools to the forefront of COVID-19 research

The team achieved this milestone by coupling two distinct hardware platforms: Cerebras CS-1, a processor-packed silicon wafer deep learning accelerator; and ThetaGPU, an AI- and simulation-enabled extension of the Theta supercomputer with NVIDIA A100 GPUs.

Argonne Cuts Through the Noise with SambaNova System

If there is one thread that runs between many of the experimental AI/HPC workloads happening at Argonne on the SambaNova system now, it’s handling noisy data.

Attendees worldwide learn supercomputing skills at annual Argonne training program

Early-career scientists from around the world got intensive, hands-on training using supercomputers and ALCF's AI accelerators.