Cray awarded contract with University of Illinois

Seattle,WA-based Cray Inc., which has about 250 employees at its manufacturing facility in Chippewa Falls, has been awarded a $188 million contract with a University of Illinois research center to build one of the world's most powerful supercomputers. The original $300 million project, which was spearheaded several years ago by International Business Machines (IBM), stalled this past August.

The project, called Blue Waters, is led by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). The supercomputer, which is expected to be operational by next year, is being financed by The National Science Foundation.

"It's too early to discuss the hiring impact....but there may be additions for us in manufacturing," said Cray Inc. Spokesman Nick Davis.

The $188 million project is being designed to help study oil exploration, weapons research, product design and how tornadoes are formed. With the announcement, Cray expects 2012 revenue to be between $340-$360 million. Last year, Cray Inc. reported net revenue of $319 million.

Cray was also selected last month for a $97 million upgrade to a system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that ranked third in the speed ranking of supercomputers.

In its most recent third quarter, Cray Inc. reported a net loss of $12.2 million compared with a loss of $8.8 million during the same period one year ago. TBL