Autonomous Resource Corporation (ARC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to accelerate the production of mission-critical defense components through AI-enabled advanced manufacturing.

The partnership, known as the Exascale Foundry, will combine ORNL’s computing and manufacturing expertise with ARC’s distributed manufacturing platform, ARCNet, to create a closed-loop system for autonomous production and materials qualification at defense-scale production. The initiative seeks to reduce manufacturing bottlenecks and strengthen domestic supply chains for national security applications.

“The United States faces an urgent need to rebuild its manufacturing capacity for critical defense components. By combining ORNL’s world-leading computational, materials science, and manufacturing capabilities with our autonomous production infrastructure, we can compress manufacturing and qualification timelines from years to months and deliver manufactured parts at the volumes the warfighter needs,” said Bryan Wisk, CEO of ARC.

Under the agreement, ARC will deploy seven advanced manufacturing production nodes connected to ORNL through its secure ARCNet infrastructure.

ORNL will contribute high-performance computing resources, simulation-driven materials characterization, and technologies from its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

“ORNL’s advanced manufacturing and computing capabilities are uniquely positioned to help accelerate the transition of laboratory-proven technologies into production-scale defense manufacturing. Partnering with ARC ensures we are transitioning our research into real production outcomes,” added Moe Khaleel, ORNL associate laboratory director for National Security Sciences.