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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1972; 54 years ago (1972) as Cray Research, Inc. (current corporate entity founded in 1987; 39 years ago (1987) asTera Computer Company) |
| Founder | Seymour Cray |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Key people | Peter Ungaro (CEO) |
| Products | Supercomputers |
| Revenue |  $455.9 million (2018) |
 -$74.2 million (2018) | |
| -$71.6 million (2018) | |
| Total assets | $517.1 million (2018) |
| Total equity | $343.3 million (2018) |
Number of employees | 1,282 (Dec 2015) |
| Parent | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
| Website | hpe |
| Footnotes / references [1][2][3][4][5] | |
Cray Inc., a subsidiary ofHewlett Packard Enterprise, is an Americansupercomputer manufacturer headquartered inSeattle, Washington.[2] It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics.[6] As of June 2025[update], Cray supercomputer systems held the top three spots in theTOP500, which ranks the most powerful supercomputers in the world.[7]
In 1972, the company was founded by computer designerSeymour Cray as Cray Research, Inc., and it continues to manufacture parts inChippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where Cray was born and raised.[8] After being acquired bySilicon Graphics in 1996, the modern company was formed after being purchased in 2000 byTera Computer Company, which adopted the name Cray Inc.[9][10] In 2019, the company was acquired byHewlett Packard Enterprise for $1.3 billion.[11]
In 1950,Seymour Cray began working in the computing field when he joinedEngineering Research Associates (ERA) inSaint Paul, Minnesota.[12] There, he helped to create theERA 1103. ERA eventually became part ofUNIVAC, and began to be phased out.
In 1960, he left the company, a few years after former ERA employees set upControl Data Corporation (CDC). He initially worked out of the CDC headquarters in Minneapolis. He eventually set up a lab in his hometown ofChippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Cray had a string of successes at CDC, including theCDC 6600 andCDC 7600.
When CDC ran into financial difficulties in the late 1960s, development funds for Cray's follow-onCDC 8600 became scarce. When he was told the project would have to be put "on hold" in 1972, Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research, Inc. Copying the previous arrangement, Cray kept the research and development facilities in Chippewa Falls and put the business headquarters inMinneapolis. The company's first product, theCray-1 supercomputer, was a major success because it was significantly faster than all other computers at the time. The first system was sold within a month for $8.8 million. Seymour Cray continued working, this time on theCray-2, though it ended up being only marginally faster than theCray X-MP, developed by another team at the company.
Cray soon left the CEO position to become an independent contractor. He started a newVery Large Scale Integration technology lab for the Cray-2 inBoulder, Colorado,Cray Laboratories, in 1979, which closed in 1982. Cray later headed a similar spin-off in 1989, Cray Computer Corporation (CCC) inColorado Springs, Colorado, where he worked on theCray-3 project—the first attempt at major use ofgallium arsenide (GaAs)semiconductors in computing. However, the changing political climate (collapse of theWarsaw Pact and the end of theCold War) resulted in poor sales prospects. Ultimately, only one Cray-3 was delivered, and a number of follow-on designs were never completed. The company filed forbankruptcy in 1995. CCC's remains then became Cray's final corporation,SRC Computers, Inc.
Cray Research continued development along a separate line of computers, originally with lead designerSteve Chen and theCray X-MP. After Chen's departure, theCray Y-MP,Cray C90 andCray T90 were developed on the original Cray-1 architecture but achieved much greater performance via multiple additional processors, faster clocks, and wider vector pipes. The uncertainty of the Cray-2 project gave rise to a number of Cray-object-code compatible "Crayette" firms, including Scientific Computer Systems (SCS), American Supercomputer, andSupertek. These firms did not intend to compete against Cray and therefore attempted less expensive, slower CMOS versions of the X-MP with the release of the COS operating system (SCS) and the CFTFortran compiler; they also considered theCray Time Sharing System operating system, developed atUnited States Department of Energy national laboratories (LANL/LLNL), before joining the broader trend toward adoption ofUnixes. Today, Cray OS is a specialized version ofSUSE Linux Enterprise Server.[13]
A series ofmassively parallel computers fromThinking Machines Corporation,Kendall Square Research,Intel,nCUBE,MasPar andMeiko Scientific took over the 1980s high performance market. At first, Cray Research denigrated such approaches by complaining that developing software to effectively use the machines was difficult – a true complaint in the era of theILLIAC IV, but becoming less so each day. Cray eventually realized that the approach was likely the only way forward and started a five-year project to capture the lead in this area: the plan's result was theDigital Equipment CorporationAlpha-basedCray T3D andCray T3E series, which left Cray as the only remaining supercomputer vendor in the market besides NEC'sSX architecture by 2000.
Most sites with a Cray installation were considered members of the "exclusive club" of Cray operators. Cray computers were considered quite prestigious because Crays were extremely expensive machines, and the number of units sold was small compared to ordinarymainframes. This perception extended to countries as well: to boost the perception of exclusivity, Cray Research's marketing department had promotionalneckties made with a mosaic of tiny national flags illustrating the "club of Cray-operating countries".[14]
New vendors introduced small supercomputers, known asminisupercomputers (as opposed to superminis) during the late 1980s and early 1990s, which out-competed low-end Cray machines in the market. TheConvex Computer series, as well as a number of small-scale parallel machines from companies likePyramid Technology andAlliant Computer Systems were particularly popular. One such vendor wasSupertek, whose S-1 machine was an air-cooledCMOS implementation of the X-MP processor. Cray purchased Supertek in 1990 and sold the S-1 as theCray XMS, but the machine proved problematic; meanwhile, the not-yet-completed S-2, a Y-MP clone, was later offered as theCray Y-MP (later becoming theCray EL90) which started to sell in reasonable numbers in 1991–92—to mostly smaller companies, notably in theoil exploration business. This line evolved into theCray J90 and eventually theCray SV1 in 1998.
In December 1991, Cray purchased some of the assets ofFloating Point Systems, another minisuper vendor that had moved into thefile server market with itsSPARC-based Model 500 line.[15] Thesesymmetric multiprocessing machines scaled up to 64 processors and ran a modified version of theSolaris operating system fromSun Microsystems. Cray set up Cray Research Superservers, Inc. (later theCray Business Systems Division) to sell this system as theCray S-MP, later replacing it with theCray CS6400. In spite of these machines being some of the most powerful available when applied to appropriate workloads, Cray was never very successful in this market, possibly due to it being so foreign to its existing market niche.
CCC was building theCray-3/SSS when it went intoChapter 11 bankruptcy in March 1995.[16]
In February 1996, Cray Research was acquired bySilicon Graphics (SGI) for $740 million.[17][18]
In May 1996, SGI sold the Superservers business to Sun.[19] Sun then turned the UltraSPARC-basedStarfire project then under development into the extremely successfulSun Enterprise 10000 range of servers.[20] SGI used several Cray technologies in its attempt to move from the graphics workstation market into supercomputing. Key among these was the use of the Cray-developedHIPPIcomputer bus and details of the interconnects used in the T3 series. SGI's long-term strategy was to merge its high-end server line with Cray's product lines in two phases, code-namedSN1 andSN2 (SN standing for "Scalable Node"). The SN1 was intended to replace the T3E andSGI Origin 2000 systems and later became theSN-MIPS orSGI Origin 3000 architecture. The SN2 was originally intended to unify all high-end/supercomputer product lines including the T90 into a single architecture. This goal was never achieved before SGI divested itself of the Cray business, and the SN2 name was later associated with theSN-IA or SGIAltix 3000 architecture.
In October 1996, founder Seymour Cray died as a result of a traffic accident.[21]
In 1998, under SGI ownership, one new Cray model line, theCray SV1, was launched. This was a clustered SMP vector processor architecture, developed from J90 technology.[22]
On March 2, 2000, Cray was sold toTera Computer Company, which was renamed Cray Inc.[23]
After the Tera merger, the Tera MTA system was relaunched as theCray MTA-2. This was not a commercial success and shipped to only two customers. Cray Inc. also unsuccessfully badged theNEC SX-6 supercomputer as the Cray SX-6 and acquired exclusive rights to sell the SX-6 in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
In 2002, Cray Inc. announced its first new model, theCray X1 combined architecturevector processor /massively parallel supercomputer.[24] Previously known as theSV2, the X1 is the result of the earlierSN2 concept originated during the SGI years. In May 2004, Cray was announced to be one of the partners in theUnited States Department of Energy's fastest-computer-in-the-world project to build a 50 teraFlops machine for theOak Ridge National Laboratory. Cray was sued in 2002 by Isothermal Systems Research for patent infringement. The suit claimed that Cray used ISR's patented technology in the development of the Cray X1.[25] The lawsuit was settled in 2003.[26] As of November 2004, theCray X1 had a maximum measured performance of 5.9 teraflops, being the 29th fastest supercomputer in the world. Since then the X1 has been superseded by the X1E, with faster dual-core processors.
On October 4, 2004, the company announced theCray XD1 range of entry-level supercomputers which use dual-core64-bitAdvanced Micro DevicesOpteroncentral processing units runningLinux.[27] This system was previously known as the OctigaBay 12K before Cray's acquisition of that company. The XD1 provided oneXilinx Virtex II Pro field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with each node of four Opteron processors. The FPGAs could be configured to embody variousdigital hardware designs and could augment the processing or input/output capabilities of the Opteron processors. Furthermore, each FPGA contains a pair ofPowerPC 405 processors which can add to the already considerable power of a single node. The Cray XD1, although moderately successful, was eventually discontinued.
In 2004, Cray completed theRed Storm system forSandia National Laboratories. Red Storm was to become the jumping-off point for a string of successful products that eventually revitalized Cray in supercomputing. Red Storm had processors clustered in 96 unit cabinets, a theoretical maximum of 300 cabinets in a machine, and a design speed of 41.5 teraflops. Red Storm also included an innovative new design for network interconnects, which was dubbed SeaStar and destined to be the centerpiece of succeeding innovations by Cray. TheCray XT3 massively parallel supercomputer became a commercialized version of Red Storm, similar in many respects to the earlier T3E architecture, but, like the XD1, using AMD Opteron processors.
On August 8, 2005, Peter Ungaro was appointed CEO. Ungaro had joined Cray in August 2003 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing and had been made Cray's President in March 2005.[28]
Introduced in 2006, theCray XT4 added support for DDR2 memory, newer dual-core and future quad-coreOpteron processors and utilized a second generation SeaStar2 communication coprocessor. It also included an option for FPGA chips to be plugged directly into processor sockets, unlike the Cray XD1, which required a dedicated socket for the FPGA coprocessor.[29]
On November 13, 2006, Cray announced a new system, theCray XMT, based on the MTA series of machines.[30][31] This system combined multi-threaded processors, as used on the original Tera systems, and the SeaStar2 interconnect used by the XT4. By reusingASICs, boards, cabinets, and system software used by the comparatively higher volume XT4 product, the cost of making the very specialized MTA system could be reduced. A second generation of the XMT is scheduled for release in 2011, with the first system ordered by the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS).[32]
In 2006, Cray announced a vision of products dubbedAdaptive Supercomputing.[33] The first generation of such systems, dubbed theRainier Project, used a common interconnect network (SeaStar2), programming environment, cabinet design, and I/O subsystem. These systems included the existing XT4 and the XMT. The second generation, launched as theXT5h, allowed a system to combine compute elements of various types into a common system, sharing infrastructure. The XT5h combined Opteron, vector, multithreaded, andFPGA compute processors in a single system.
In April 2008, Cray andIntel announced they would collaborate on future supercomputer systems. This partnership produced theCray CX1 system, launched in September the same year. This was a desksideblade server system, comprising up to 16 dual- or quad-core IntelXeon processors, with eitherMicrosoftWindows HPC Server 2008 orRed Hat Enterprise Linux installed.[34]
By 2009, the largest computer system Cray had delivered was theCray XT5 system atNational Center for Computational Sciences atOak Ridge National Laboratories.[35] This system, with over 224,000 processing cores, was dubbedJaguar and was the fastest computer in the world as measured by theLINPACK benchmark[36] at the speed of 1.75 petaflops[37] until being surpassed by theTianhe-1A in October 2010. It was the first system to exceed a sustained performance of 1 petaflops on a 64-bit scientific application.
In May 2010, theCray XE6 supercomputer was announced. The Cray XE6 system had at its core the new Gemini system interconnect. This new interconnect included a true global-address space and represented a return to the T3E feature set that had been so successful with Cray Research. This product was a successful follow-on to the XT3, XT4 and XT5 products. The first multi-cabinet XE6 system was shipped in July 2010. The next generationCascade[38] systems were designed make use of future multicore and/ormanycore processors from vendors such as Intel and Nvidia. Cascade was scheduled to be introduced in early 2013 and designed to use the next-generation network chip and follow-on to Gemini, code namedAries.
In early 2010, Cray also introduced theCray CX1000, a rack-mounted system with a choice of compute-based, GPU-based, or SMP-based chassis.[39] The CX1 and CX1000 product lines were sold until late 2011.
In 2011, Cray announced theCray XK6 hybrid supercomputer. The Cray XK6 system, capable of scaling to 500,000 processors and 50 petaflops of peak performance,[40] combines Cray's Gemini interconnect, AMD's multi-core scalar processors, andNvidia's TeslaGPGPU processors. In October 2012 Cray announced theCray XK7 which supports the Nvidia Kepler GPGPU and announced that the ORNL Jaguar system would be upgraded to an XK7 (renamedTitan) and capable of over 20 petaflops.[41] Titan was the world's fastest supercomputer as measured by theLINPACK benchmark[42] until the introduction of theTianhe-2 in 2013, which is substantially faster.
In 2011 Cray also announced it had been awarded the $188 millionBlue Waters contract with theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, after IBM had pulled out of the delivery.[43][44] This system was delivered in 2012 and was the largest system to date, in terms of cabinets and general-purpose x86 processors, that Cray had ever delivered.
In November 2011, the Cray Sonexion 1300 Data Storage System was introduced and signaled Cray's entry into the high performance storage business. This product used modular technology and aLustre file system.[45][46]
In 2011, Cray launched theOpenACC parallel programming standard organization.[47] In 2019, Cray announced that it was deprecatingOpenACC, and will supportOpenMP.[48]However, in 2022, the Cray Fortran compiler still supported OpenACC,[49] in part due to its usage in the ICON climate simulation code.[50]
In April 2012, Cray announced the sale of its interconnect hardware development program and related intellectual property to Intel for $140 million.[51][52]
On November 9, 2012, Cray announced the acquisition ofAppro International, Inc., a California-based privately held developer of advanced scalable supercomputing solutions.[53] As of 2012 the #3 provider on the Top100 supercomputer list, Appro builds some of the world's most advanced high performance computing (HPC) cluster systems. In 2012, Cray also opened a subsidiary in China.[54]
On September 25, 2019,Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) acquired the company for $1.3 billion. HPE's acquisition strengthened its position in high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) markets.[55][56]
In October 2020, HPE was awarded the contract to build the pre-exascaleEuroHPC computerLUMI, inKajaani,Finland.[57] The contract, worth €144.5 million, is for an HPE Cray EX system, with a theoretical maximum performance of 550petaflops. Once fully operational, LUMI will become one of the fastest supercomputers in the world.[58]
On June 28, 2022, the USNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) inaugurated the nation’s newest weather and climate supercomputers, two HPE Cray supercomputers installed and operated byGeneral Dynamics (GDIT). Each supercomputer operates at 12.1petaflops.[59]
On November 18, 2024, the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) unveiled an HPE Cray supercomputer for use in nuclear weapons analysis and inertial confinement fusion design.[60] The supercomputer is housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and was ranked at #1 in the TOP500 supercomputer list in the November 2024 edition. HPE Cray supercomputers were listed in 7 of the top 10 positions on the list, including the #1, #2, and #3 positions.[61]
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