Exhibit 99.1

CRAY INC. REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2011 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Seattle, WA – May 9, 2011 – Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY) today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Revenue for the quarter was $39.9 million compared to $28.4 million in the prior year period. The company reported a net loss for the quarter of ($1.5 million) or ($0.04) per share compared to a net loss of ($11.6 million) or ($0.34) per share in the first quarter of 2010.

Total gross profit margin for the first quarter 2011 was 43% compared to 23% for the first quarter of 2010. For the first quarter 2011, product margin was 32% and service margin was 51%. First quarter 2011 service margin benefited as new, large systems went into production and also benefited from revenue on a custom engineering contract on which costs were recognized in a prior period.

Operating expenses for the first quarter 2011 were $18.1 million, flat with the prior year period. First quarter 2011 operating expenses included $1.1 million for restructuring costs associated with the company’s workforce rebalancing announced in March 2011. The first quarter 2011 results also included non-cash items of $2.2 million for depreciation and amortization and $1.1 million related to stock compensation expense.

As of March 31, 2011, cash balances totaled $125.9 million compared to $61.3 million as of December 31, 2010.

“We had a solid first quarter highlighted by strong gross margin and cash of over $3 per share at quarter-end,” said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. “We continue to make good progress on our internal development plans with two upgrades planned for the Cray XE6 supercomputer later this year. Due to lengthening sales cycles, mainly driven by federal budgeting delays in the U.S. and abroad, we have adjusted the low end of our revenue range downward for 2011 – at the same time we reduced our cost profile and improved our operating leverage. Our focus is on winning new opportunities needed to achieve our outlook while continuing to execute on our longer-term growth drivers.”

1

Outlook

A wide range of results remains possible for 2011 and the company’s quarterly and annual results are highly dependent on completing a handful of large transactions already contracted as well as securing additional opportunities. One of these opportunities not yet contracted is anticipated to be more than $50 million in revenue for 2011. Assuming all necessary acceptances are achieved within the year, total revenue for 2011 is anticipated to be $300-$340 million. Quarterly revenue is expected to fluctuate for 2011 with second quarter revenue in the range of $65-$70 million and fourth quarter revenue representing more than 50% of the annual total. Custom Engineering revenue is expected to be approximately $40-$50 million for 2011.

For the year, total gross margins are expected to be in the mid-30% range and with a second Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) milestone anticipated for the fourth quarter, core operating expenses are expected to be about $100 million. Based on this outlook, we expect to be profitable for 2011.

Actual results for any future period are subject to large fluctuations given the nature of Cray’s business.

Recent Highlights

2

Conference Call Information

Cray will host a conference call today, Monday, May 9, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. PDT (4:30 p.m. EDT) to discuss first quarter 2011 financial results. To access the call, please dial into the conference at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call at 1- 877-941-9205. International callers should dial 1- 480-629-9835. To listen to the audio webcast, go to the Investors section of the Cray website at http://investors.cray.com.

If you are unable to attend the live conference call, an audio webcast replay will be available in the Investors section of the Cray website for 180 days. If you do not have Internet access, a replay of the call will be available by dialing 1-800-406-7325, international callers dial 1-303-590-3030, and entering the access code 4435840. The conference call replay will be available for 72 hours, beginning at 4:30 p.m. PDT on Monday, May 9, 2011.

About Cray Inc.

As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray provides highly advanced supercomputers and world-class services and support to government, industry and academia. Cray technology is designed to enable scientists and engineers to achieve remarkable breakthroughs by accelerating performance, improving efficiency and extending the capabilities of their most demanding applications. Cray’s Adaptive Supercomputing vision is focused on delivering innovative next-generation products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified architecture, allowing customers to surpass today’s limitations and meeting the market’s continued demand for realized performance. Go to www.cray.com for more information.

3

Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including, but not limited to, statements related to Cray’s financial guidance and expected future operating results, its product development plans, including its ability to complete two major upgrades to the Cray XE6 system, the expected delivery of Cray systems that have been ordered, and the ability of systems delivered by Cray to meet the customer’s needs. These statements involve current expectations, forecasts of future events and other statements that are not historical facts. Inaccurate assumptions as well as known and unknown risks and uncertainties can affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements and cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect actual future events or results include, but are not limited to, the risk that Cray does not achieve the operational or financial results that it expects, the risk that Cray will not be able to secure orders for Cray XE6 systems (including enhanced Cray XE6 systems) when or at the levels expected (including for the more than $50 million opportunity planned in 2011), the risk that Cray is not able to successfully complete its planned product development efforts and deliver upgrades to the Cray XE6 system within the planned timeframe or at all, the risk that Cray is not able to achieve and obtain acceptance of co-funded development milestones when or as expected or at all, the risk that the AMD “Interlagos” processor is not available when expected, the risk that the systems ordered by customers are not delivered when expected or do not perform as expected once delivered, the risk that customer acceptances are not received when expected or at all (particularly with more than 50% of revenue anticipate in the fourth quarter of 2011), the risk that Cray is not able to achieve anticipated gross margin or expense levels, and such other risks as identified in the Company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2011, and from time to time in other reports filed by Cray with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this release. Cray undertakes no duty to publicly announce or report revisions to these statements as new information becomes available that may change the Company’s expectations.

###

Cray is a registered trademark of Cray Inc. in the United States and other countries and Cray XE6, Cray XMT and Cray CX1000 are trademarks of Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

4

CRAY INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited and in thousands, except per share data)

5

CRAY INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Unaudited and in thousands, except share data)

6