John noted this deal in his Tech5 podcast. Thought I’d offer some detail.

Cray Inc. plans to develop a range of supercomputers and processor and interconnect technologies with Intel Corp. as part of a broad agreement between the two companies. As part of the deal, Cray has licensed Intel’s QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology and pledged to use Intel processors in a range of systems starting as early as 2011.

To date Cray has been using processors from Advanced Micro Devices and their HyperTransport chip interconnect. Under the new deal, Cray expects to use Intel CPUs in its Cascade-class systems being developed as part of a high-profile government program…

“This is not just Cray selecting Intel as a vendor. It is much more of a design relationship, embracing new capabilities we want to bring to market” said Ian Miller, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Cray.

The deal grew out of engineering meetings between the two companies that included discussions of the company’s long-term road maps, Miller added. Intel would not disclose any details about technologies it discussed as part of those meetings.

Of course, this being the Land of the Free, both sides conferred with DARPA before, during and after the engineering meetings.