NVIDIA Expands Open‑Source HPC Role With SchedMD

NVIDIA has acquired SchedMD, the company behind the widely used open‑source workload manager Slurm, signaling a deeper commitment to high‑performance computing and AI infrastructure.
The company plans to keep Slurm open‑source and vendor‑neutral, ensuring continued availability across diverse hardware environments.
The move strengthens NVIDIA’s position in the HPC ecosystem while preserving the community‑driven development model that helped Slurm become a global standard.

A Strategic Acquisition for HPC and AI

NVIDIA’s purchase of SchedMD marks a significant step in its long‑running involvement with high‑performance computing. The company emphasized that Slurm will remain open‑source and vendor‑neutral, maintaining its accessibility for researchers, developers and enterprises. This approach aligns with the platform’s history as a widely adopted workload manager across heterogeneous computing environments. NVIDIA’s decision reflects a broader strategy to support the open‑source tools that underpin modern AI and supercomputing workflows.

Slurm plays a central role in managing complex HPC and AI workloads. These tasks often involve parallel computations that require efficient queuing, scheduling and resource allocation across large clusters. As systems grow in scale and capability, the need for reliable workload management becomes increasingly important. Slurm’s architecture has been designed to handle these demands, making it a preferred choice for many of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

The software is used in more than half of the top 10 and top 100 systems on the TOP500 list. Its scalability and policy management features have contributed to its widespread adoption in both academic and commercial environments. NVIDIA hardware already integrates well with Slurm, enabling users to coordinate training and inference workloads for generative AI models. This compatibility has helped position Slurm as a foundational component of modern AI infrastructure.

SchedMD CEO Danny Auble described the acquisition as recognition of Slurm’s importance in demanding computing environments. He noted that NVIDIA’s expertise in accelerated computing will support the platform’s continued evolution. The company reiterated that Slurm will remain open‑source, preserving its role within the broader HPC community. This commitment aims to ensure that the software can meet the needs of next‑generation AI and supercomputing systems.

Strengthening an Established Partnership

NVIDIA and SchedMD have collaborated for more than a decade. Their work together has focused on optimizing Slurm for advanced computing systems and ensuring compatibility with emerging hardware. The acquisition formalizes this relationship and provides SchedMD with expanded access to new technologies. NVIDIA plans to accelerate the integration of Slurm across its computing platforms, enabling users to optimize workloads more effectively.

The company also intends to support a diverse hardware ecosystem. This approach allows organizations to run heterogeneous clusters while still benefiting from Slurm’s latest features. NVIDIA emphasized that maintaining broad compatibility is essential for customers who rely on mixed environments. The goal is to ensure that Slurm continues to function as a flexible and widely supported scheduler.

Support, training and development services for Slurm will continue under NVIDIA’s stewardship. SchedMD’s customer base spans cloud providers, manufacturers, AI companies and research institutions. These organizations operate in fields such as autonomous driving, healthcare, life sciences, energy, finance and government. NVIDIA aims to maintain continuity for these users while expanding the platform’s capabilities.

The acquisition also reinforces NVIDIA’s broader commitment to open‑source software. The company has increasingly invested in tools that support AI development at scale. Slurm’s role in managing large‑scale training and inference workloads makes it a natural fit within this strategy. NVIDIA sees the platform as a key enabler of innovation across industries.

Impact on the Open‑Source Ecosystem

By bringing SchedMD into its portfolio, NVIDIA aims to strengthen the open‑source foundations of HPC and AI. The company believes that community‑driven development remains essential for advancing large‑scale computing. Slurm’s open‑source model has allowed it to evolve rapidly in response to user needs. NVIDIA intends to preserve this dynamic while contributing additional engineering resources.

The acquisition may also help accelerate Slurm’s adoption in new environments. As organizations deploy increasingly complex AI systems, workload management becomes a critical factor in performance and efficiency. Slurm’s ability to handle diverse policies and large clusters positions it well for these challenges. NVIDIA’s involvement could further enhance its capabilities in areas such as scheduling optimization and system monitoring.

Researchers and developers stand to benefit from improved access to Slurm on cutting‑edge hardware. NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform is widely used for AI training, simulation and scientific workloads. Integrating Slurm more deeply into this ecosystem may streamline operations for teams managing large‑scale experiments. The company hopes this will support innovation across both academic and commercial sectors.

Together, NVIDIA and SchedMD aim to advance the open‑source software ecosystem that supports HPC and AI. Their combined efforts are expected to help organizations operate at greater scale and efficiency. The partnership underscores the importance of open tools in enabling scientific and technological progress. It also highlights the growing role of workload management in the future of AI infrastructure.