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Frontera's queues close October 1st.
TACC announced a permanent closure of Frontera's computing queues. Its guide preserves access for moving data out, but does not promise an allocation transfer to a successor.
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The Texas Advanced Computing Center's Frontera guide begins with a consequential warning. Its computing queues will close permanently on October 1st, 2026. The same guide says researchers will still be able to access file systems to transfer their data.
Those are different permissions. Access to retrieve files is not access to keep submitting computing jobs. It also does not establish that an unused allocation moves automatically to another machine.
The successor has its own access rule
Horizon, the successor machine, has a separate user guide. Its notice still limits use to internal users, and the guide identifies itself as a work in progress. The allocation routes it lists are not proof that general access has opened.
The federal construction award identifies TACC as the project lead. An award period describes the funded construction project. It is not a promise that every Frontera workload will have a ready replacement when the queues close.
AI work still consumes an allocation
The center requires AI-assisted workloads to run on compute nodes. It also says the service units they consume are charged against the user's allocation. Delegating work to an AI agent does not remove those operating conditions.
The unanswered migration question
The closing guide does not explain what happens to allocations after the shutdown or name a destination for unfinished work. That is a gap in this guide, not proof that no migration arrangements exist elsewhere.
Sources for this story
- TACC HPC Documentation, Frontera User Guide
- TACC HPC Documentation, Horizon User Guide
- NSF Award API record 2323116
- TACC HPC Documentation, TACC Good Conduct Guide
Claim-by-claim verification · 23 claims
The center's own Frontera guide gives the date the queues close and says the closure is permanent.
On October 1, 2026, the Frontera queues will be closed permanently.
The guide says the machine is being decommissioned after seven years.
After seven years and billions of computing cycles, Frontera will be riding off into decommission sunset.
The center describes what Frontera is, in its own words, on the same page that closes it.
Frontera is the largest cluster dedicated to open science in the United States
The successor machine's own guide says who may use it, and carries a date on that notice.
Horizon is still limited only to internal users. (07/24/2026)
The successor machine's guide states its own completeness, as the first line of its notices.
This user guide is in progress
The one thing the closing guide promises for after the date is a way to take data away.
You will still be able to access Frontera’s file systems to transfer any data needed.
The Frontera guide names the funder and the award number behind the machine.
Frontera is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through award #1818253
The funder's own record gives the Frontera award a different title than the center's page does, and the date it started.
"startDate":"09/01/2018","title":"Computation for the Endless Frontier"
The center's page gives the same award a title of its own.
Computing for the Endless Frontier
The successor machine names the award it is built under.
Leadership Class Computing Facility (LCCF) award, Award Abstract #2323116
The successor's award record gives the date the construction award runs to.
"expDate":"04/30/2028","fundAgencyCode":"4900"
The successor's award record gives the date its construction award started, and what that award is titled.
"startDate":"07/01/2024","title":"Construction for the Leadership Class Computing Facility"
The successor's own guide lists the second of its three ways in by name.
National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR)
The closing guide carries the date it was last touched.
Last update: September 3, 2026
The successor's guide carries the date it was last touched.
Last update: August 12, 2026
The center states where an AI assisted workload is allowed to run on its machines.
All AI-assisted workloads must be executed on compute nodes only
The center states who pays for what an AI agent burns.
All Service Units (SUs) consumed by AI-related workloads will be charged against your allocation.
The Frontera guide never says what becomes of an allocation after the closing date and never names a machine the work moves to. Its only statement about the period after that date is about taking data away. Looked for on the Frontera user guide and nowhere else.
file systems to transfer any data needed
The guide names the center that runs the machine, in the same sentence that says what the machine is.
is the Texas Advanced Computing Center
The successor's guide lists its allocation routes, and the deck's count of three is computed from this run rather than typed.
Allocations LCCF Allocations National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR) TxRAS System Specifications
The funder's own record says which center leads the construction project the successor machine is built under.
The LCCF project, led by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC)
The successor machine's data center is in Round Rock, Texas, and the guide states its power draw and its cooling method.
powered by a new 20 MW data center with advanced liquid cooling in Round Rock, Texas
The Warning block is the first thing the Frontera user guide carries after its own title and update stamp. The placement the deck states is in the page rather than inferred from it.
Frontera User Guide Last update: September 3, 2026 Warning