Work on Oregon State University’s newest research building, planned to house facilities for artificial intelligence and material science research among other things, is currently expected to finish in 2027.

Officials broke ground last April on the center, officially named the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, in a ceremony attended by Governor Tina Kotek, OSU President Jayathi Murthy and the Huangs themselves. At the time, the building was scheduled to open sometime in 2026.

The building will be located off of Monroe Ave. near the intersection of Monroe and 23rd St. Currently, work is ongoing on the building’s structure, according to a schedule provided by Erin Martin, director of communications and web for OSU’s Department of Finance and Administration.

Construction of the building’s exterior is set to begin in March, as will installation of the plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling infrastructure. Outfitting of the building is set to begin in September 2026, with installation of the supercomputer planned to begin a month later in October. 

The supercomputer will be one of the nation’s most powerful, according to the complex’s website. The building’s facilities will be used for research into artificial intelligence, robotics and materials science.

Belinda Batten, a professor of mechanical engineering and senior advisor to the provost for strategic initiatives, is the Huang Complex’s academic lead.

According to Batten, the building will not have any classrooms but will have a seminar room that may host future university seminar series. Batten said that the complex’s atrium was designed to allow groups to meet and discuss projects, either in the main space or in side rooms.

“Even though it’s mostly research, we really hope students will come in and find it to be a very inviting place,” Batten said.

The complex itself will be three stories tall and 143,000 square feet, and comes at a total cost of $213 million, according to the complex’s website. According to Batten, the first floor will primarily house research facilities, while the building’s 40 offices for faculty and graduate students will be located on the second and third floors.

“This building is really not about who sits in it, this building is about who wants to come in and use it,” Batten said. “It’s going to be available to all OSU faculty and students, no matter where they are.”

The building’s facilities will include a cleanroom, an electro-mechanical prototyping lab, a “cyber-physical playground” and an extended reality theater, according to the website

According to Batten, the cleanroom would be used for certain projects that need to avoid contaminants normally found in the air. For example, semiconductor companies use cleanrooms to build semiconductor chips.

“Our cleanroom here is for a couple of purposes,” Batten said. “One is for doing research that would be in collaboration with companies like HP and Intel … and another reason is to develop graduates who understand how to operate a cleanroom.” 

The prototyping lab will allow users to make components for devices, such as sensors or a quadcopter. The cyber-physical playground, meanwhile, would be an assembly and testing area for these devices.

The complex’s extended reality theater would allow performers who incorporate virtual reality into their show to “work the bugs out” before larger performances, according to Batten. 

“It’s not only virtual reality, but it’s reality reality extended with virtual reality,” Batten said. 

The building received its name after a $50 million donation from Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang, both OSU graduates, according to the OSU press release. Jen-Hsun Huang is the founder and CEO of tech company NVIDIA, who will provide components for the supercomputer planned to be housed in the facility.

$50 million of additional funding came from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, according to an OSU Foundation press release. $72 million in funding came in the form of bonds from the state legislature, with the university providing the remaining $41 million. 

As part of the project, Weniger Hall will be demolished. According to the schedule, demolition of the building should begin sometime in 2028.According to OSU’s Capital Forecast, the university’s 10-year financial plan, the building will be replaced with a transit hub and plaza. Demolition of the building, which the plan describes as “aged and unrepairable,” would also remove the need for $70 million in deferred maintenance.