WASHINGTON — The National Science Foundation is establishing a new operations center to strengthen the nation’s capacity for AI research and AI-enabled scientific discovery, marking a key step in expanding access to advanced AI research capabilities and expertise. The NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Operations Center, or NSF NAIRR-OC, will serve as the operational backbone of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, a public-private effort designed to expand access to advanced AI research capabilities.
The center will coordinate participating resource providers, integrate computing, data, models and tools, operate the national NAIRR portal, and provide support and training to users. It will also gather input from the research community to continually improve NAIRR’s capabilities and lead the transition of appropriate functions from the NAIRR pilot into long-term national infrastructure.
Led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego in collaboration with the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the operating center brings together complementary expertise and decades of experience developing and operating national-scale research infrastructure. UC San Diego leads the NSF-supported National Data Platform and National Research Platform, while UT Austin will lead the NSF Leadership-Class Computing Facility. Together, the institutions have supported millions of users, coordinated efforts across federal agencies and research organizations, and managed complex, multiyear initiatives with measurable outcomes.
The NAIRR-OC will build on the progress of the NAIRR pilot, which has demonstrated both demand for and impact of a national approach to AI infrastructure. Since its launch in 2024, the pilot has supported over 800 research projects and thousands of innovators and students nationwide.
With over 25 private-sector partners, including major technology leaders and nonprofit organizations, the pilot has expanded access to resources that have enabled research, educational and workforce development activities that otherwise may have been difficult or impossible to pursue.
In addition to managing operations, the center will coordinate with projects supported through three NSF programs: the NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs program, which expands regional access to computing resources and develops the workforce needed to use them; the NSF Integrated Data Systems and Services program, which supports national-scale data infrastructure for AI-driven research; and the NSF Unlocking Dataset Value for AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery program, which focuses on increasing the value of existing scientific datasets and enabling new AI-driven insights.
By connecting these regional resources, national data systems and scientific datasets with capabilities available through NAIRR, the operations center aims to create a stronger national ecosystem for AI-enabled scientific discovery. The NSF says this integrated approach will help sustain American leadership in science and technology as AI continues to evolve.
The NAIRR-OC will work closely with federal and private-sector resource providers to strengthen the overall infrastructure.
