NSF State and Regional Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Hubs: Expanding Access to Compute for Scientific Discovery (AI Infrastructure Hubs)

NSF State and Regional Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Hubs: Expanding Access to Compute for Scientific Discovery (AI Infrastructure Hubs)

Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO). Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity. If you are participating in this program in any capacity, with CU Boulder as lead or with another institution, you must apply to the internal competition. See the NSF Participation Restrictions below. 

Strategic Proposal

RIO has designated this funding opportunity as a Strategic Proposal, based on its potential for significant institutional impact. RIO’s research development team (RIO-RD) partners with PIs to provide enhanced support, coordination, and/or resources for strategic proposal efforts.

PIs selected for this limited submission opportunity will be contacted by RIO-RD to develop a proposal management plan that includes a timeline, team assignments, review(s) schedule, and submission process, and to organize a proposal kickoff meeting with all participants. 

For questions regarding Strategic Proposals, please contact Mike Mitchell. 

Program Summary 

The NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs program aims to expand access to the compute required for AI-enabled scientific discovery and to transform the research, education, and training opportunities offered by institutions of higher education. AI Infrastructure Hubs will connect researchers to new compute infrastructure that leverages contributions from state governments, research institutions, industry, and philanthropy, accelerating AI-enabled discovery across science and engineering and developing a skilled technical workforce for AI use in the scientific enterprise.

The program responds to a core tenet of Science: A New Golden Age to renew America's research and development (R&D) for changes in today's scientific enterprise, including the role of AI in laying the foundation for a new era of scientific discovery and the growing role of industry and philanthropy in funding R&D. In response, the Administration's FY28 R&D Priorities Memorandum called for investing in AI for science as a national mission and expanding the scale of, and flexible access to, advanced compute and data infrastructure that researchers now require for frontier scientific discovery.

Each AI Infrastructure Hub will be organized as a flexible state or regional consortium of state and local governments, research institutions, philanthropies, and the private sector. Consortia will be responsible for all funding for new or expanded computing, data, and AI resources, whether on-premises or cloud-based. NSF will fund each Hub's consortium coordination, AI infrastructure workforce development, and faculty training and coursework development in leveraging AI for science. 

See the solicitation for complete details. 

Deadlines 

• CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MT August 16, 2026
• Sponsor Deadline: 5:00pm MT November 4, 2026

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

• Submission Certification: I certify that I understand the participation restrictions for this opportunity. I will disclose any planned participation by me as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel, and any planned participation by CU Boulder as a lead or non-lead organization, through the internal competition process. I understand that participation in these roles requires approval through the internal competition process before applying in any capacity. 
• Project Summary (2 pages maximum): Please include details on the following: 1) Hub Stakeholders, Vision, and Key Deliverables; 2) Computing, Data, and AI Infrastructure; 3) Partnerships with Regional Stakeholders; 4) Development of an AI Infrastructure Workforce; and 5) Faculty Training and Instructional Material Development on AI for Science.
• Curriculum Vitae of the Lead PI 
• Budget Overview (1 page maximum): A basic budget outlining project costs is sufficient; detailed OCG budgets are not required.
• Internal Teaming Abstract (optional): Please provide a brief project abstract (3-4 sentences) for teaming purposes. By submitting this abstract, you give RIO permission to share your name and abstract with potential CU Boulder teams as part of the internal competition process, including if your proposal is not selected.

Access Online Application

NSF Participation Restrictions

• Due to NSF’s submission restrictions for this opportunity, any proposed participation by CU Boulder in an application must submit through the internal limited submission process. This includes serving as the lead organization, a non-lead organization on a collaborative proposal, or participating as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel.
• NSF limits participation to one proposal per organization and one proposal per individual serving as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel. To ensure compliance with these restrictions, all CU Boulder researchers intending to participate in a proposal submitted to this program must submit through the internal competition process.
• Advisory roles are not subject to the NSF individual participation limit and therefore are not subject to this internal submission requirement.

Eligibility

An individual may participate in at most one State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs proposal as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel for each deadline. If an individual exceeds this limit, only the first proposal received will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review. This rule does not apply to advisory roles.

Collaborative proposals submitted as simultaneous submission of proposals from different organizations, with each organization requesting a separate award are not allowed. Collaborative proposals must be submitted as a single proposal, in which a single award is being requested (with subawards administered by the lead organization). See the PAPPG Chapter II.E.3 for more information.

Limited Submission Guidelines

An institution may appear as a participant in at most one proposal. If more than one proposal contains an institution as a participant then only the first one will be reviewed. All others will be returned without review.

Award Information 

NSF anticipates typical proposals to State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs Program should request 5 years and between $4,000,000 - $12,000,000 total budget.

Review Criteria

In addition to NSF’s intellectual merit and broader impacts, internal proposals will be evaluated using the following solicitation-specific criteria: 

• To what extent will the consortium's governance structure and plan for reaching a wide array of institution types aid in meeting the program's goals?
• How strong are the AI infrastructure workforce development plans?
• Are the plans for regional engagement and partnerships with industry, philanthropy, and state and local governments well thought-out with committed partners?
• Will the faculty and educator training and instructional materials development plan significantly increase the number of students accessing advanced computing, data, and AI resources?
• Are the proposed computing, data and AI infrastructure resources adequate in scale and design to support the consortium's researchers, students, and proposed activities?