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Wright Delivers Remarks at the Argonne Aurora Exascale Supercomputer Dedication, Jul. 16, 2025

July 16, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:21:58

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered remarks at the dedication of the Aurora exascale supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the July 16, 2025 event. Wright carried a message he attributed directly to President Trump, saying he had been with the President at an event in Pittsburgh the day before where the President announced $90 billion of investments in Pennsylvania to build the power infrastructure and data centers needed to drive AI forward, as Wright stated the figure.

Wright grounded Argonne in Enrico Fermi’s first controlled chain reaction and the Manhattan Project — noting the day was the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test — and argued AI carries a parallel stakes: the next three or four years, he predicted, will be the greatest years of scientific achievement of his lifetime, but the United States cannot come second, because AI will have massive national-defense implications. Aurora, in his framing, is both a scientific instrument that empowers every field and a national-security asset, and it runs on the energy build-out the administration is pursuing.

Why it matters

The Aurora dedication is Wright dedicating a flagship of American computing with a warning attached: the machine embodies the AI lead he says the country must hold, and its power demands are the practical reason his energy agenda exists.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the $90 billion in Pennsylvania AI power and data-center investments Wright said President Trump announced on July 15, 2025, as Wright stated the figure at the Aurora dedication. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright’s Remarks at Argonne Aurora Exascale Supercomputer Dedication - July 16, 2025” (official upload, embedded above; remarks as delivered by Secretary Wright).