El Capitan (supercomputer)

El Capitan was a planned exascale supercomputer to be deployed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It was intended to be used by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the United States' nuclear stockpile through simulation and modeling as part of the Stockpile Stewardship Program.

El Capitan was designed to be an HPE Cray EX supercomputer powered by AMD EPYC processors and AMD Radeon Instinct GPUs. It was expected to deliver a peak performance of over 2 exaflops (two quintillion floating-point operations per second). This level of performance would have made it significantly faster than previous generation supercomputers, including its predecessor, Sierra.

Key applications targeted for El Capitan included advanced simulations for nuclear weapons performance, materials science research, and investigations into high-energy-density physics. The improved processing power was crucial for handling increasingly complex models and simulations needed for modern scientific challenges.

Procurement for El Capitan began in the late 2010s. The system was originally slated for delivery in late 2022 and full operation in early 2023. However, the deployment schedule experienced delays. As of late 2023, El Capitan was reported to be on track for delivery and installation, with an expected operational date in early 2024. Further delays were again announced. As of October 2024, the system is in the process of installation and testing, with expected full availability in late 2024.