How The AI Cowboys Are Reimagining AI Infrastructure in San Antonio
Hold up for a second—because the cadence matters.
Everyone’s talking about AI models, AI tools, AI workflows.
But none of that happens without serious compute.
So what does compute power actually look like inside The AI Cowboys AI Lab at The University of Texas at San Antonio?
A Petascale-Class AI Lab, Built in Texas
Inside our lab sits a compact but powerful slice of exascale-era architecture:
- DGX Station (4× V100 GPUs): ~0.5 PFLOPS
- DGX Spark (Grace–Blackwell): ~0.5–1 PFLOPS
- Total AI Compute: ~1–1.5 PFLOPS
- CUDA Cores: ~26,624
- CPU Cores: ~50
- Exascale-inspired on-prem infrastructure
This configuration represents the type of compute that once lived exclusively in national supercomputing facilities—now operating locally, on campus, in San Antonio.
Supporting references:
NVIDIA DGX Platform: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/dgx-platform/
NVIDIA V100: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/tesla-v100/
DOE Exascale Project: https://www.exascaleproject.org/
How Our Compute Stacks Up Against National Labs
For context:
- El Capitan (LLNL): 2,800 PFLOPS → We’re ~0.04%
- Astra (Sandia): 2.3 PFLOPS → We operate at ~40–65% of Astra
- Trinity (LANL/SNL): 41.5 PFLOPS → We’re ~2.4%
Sources:
El Capitan: https://www.llnl.gov/news/meet-el-capitan
Astra: https://www.sandia.gov/ccr/resources/compute-systems/astra
Trinity: https://www.lanl.gov/projects/trinity/
We’re not meant to compete with national labs.
We’re meant to accelerate real-world AI engineering, research collaboration, and enterprise innovation within the region.
Why Petascale Compute Matters in 2025
This level of compute unlocks capability tiers that cloud VMs and desktop GPUs simply can’t touch.
1. Advanced Model Training & LLM Fine-Tuning
- Multi-billion parameter LLMs
- Scientific modeling
- RAG systems at enterprise scale
NIH AI Case Study: https://datascience.nih.gov/artificial-intelligence
2. National Security & Defense AI
Our work directly supports:
- Cyber analytics
- Autonomous simulation workloads
- Sensor fusion systems
- FOIA + document classification automation (via TRONAS)
Sandia HPC Reference: https://www.sandia.gov/
3. City-Scale Digital Twins
San Antonio’s future can include AI-powered:
- Flood prediction (RiverAlert)
- Infrastructure mapping
- Transportation optimization
- Energy grid simulation
Digital Twin overview: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/omniverse/digital-twins/
4. Enterprise-Grade AI Systems
Industries we support:
- Healthcare
- Energy
- Finance
- Logistics
- Manufacturing
- Government
This is where proof-of-concept ends—and true AI transformation begins.
San Antonio’s Strategic Edge
San Antonio is already a national leader in cybersecurity, backed by UT San Antonio's #1 national ranking (Ponemon Institute):
https://www.utsa.edu/today/2014/11/ponemonranking.html
Add to that:
- The National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC)
- 16th Air Force (Cyber Command)
- NSA Texas
- Expanding tech and startup ecosystems
And now, a publicly documented petascale AI lab operated by The AI Cowboys. It is forming a regional infrastructure advantage for research, national security, and private-sector innovation.
Use Cases Already Running Inside the Lab
- R-O-D-E-O Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform
- TRONAS FOIA Automation & Document Analytics
- RiverAlert Flood Prediction (AI + IoT)
- Enterprise Synthetic Data Generation
- RTTP Real-Time Threat protection
Students, researchers, and partners gain access to real-world HPC workflows, cluster orchestration tools, multimodal model pipelines, and LLM training environments.
This is how you build a future-ready technical workforce.
Why This Is one of the Leading AI Lab in San Antonio
Based on all available public information, no other academic, private-sector, or government entity in San Antonio offers:
- Petascale AI compute
- Exascale-class architecture
- Persistent on-prem GPU clusters
- Commercialization-ready AI pipelines
- Open documentation of compute scale
- Active industry, academic, and national-security partnership programs
This is the benchmark for advanced AI infrastructure in the region.
Built in Texas. Inspired by the Nation’s Best.
Petascale compute used to require a national security facility.
Now it sits inside UT San Antonio—designed, engineered, and operated by The AI Cowboys.
Q&A
1. What makes the lab petascale?
It delivers 1–1.5 PFLOPS, crossing the threshold for petascale computing.
2. How does it compare to national supercomputers?
It operates at 40–65% of Astra, ~2.4% of Trinity, and ~0.04% of El Capitan—exceptional for an on-prem campus lab.
3. What workloads can it run?
LLM training, cybersecurity analytics, digital twins, scientific modeling, and enterprise AI systems.
4. Is this the only lab like it in San Antonio?
Based on public data, yes—no other San Antonio facility publicly shows petascale performance or exascale-class architecture.
5. Who can use or partner with the lab?
Universities, industry partners, startups, and government organizations working on advanced AI, research, or security applications.
