Nvidia and US pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly have announced a $1 billion investment to build a new joint research laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area over 5 years. The facility will use Nvidia’s latest generation Vera Rubin AI chips to advance drug research and development.
The announcement was made at the start of the weeklong JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. It comes just months after Lilly, the maker of Zepbound, revealed plans to build a supercomputer powered by more than 1,000 of Nvidia’s current generation Grace Blackwell AI chips.
Lilly is among a growing number of pharmaceutical companies that are increasingly turning to advanced AI models to design and discover new treatments. The aim is to significantly reduce the time required to bring new medicines to market.
The two companies did not clarify whether Nvidia will directly provide funds to Lilly that could then be used to purchase Nvidia chips. Similar arrangements in other Nvidia investments have earlier raised questions around such circular funding structures.
Nvidia’s broader strategy in the biotechnology space focuses on supplying open-source AI models and software. These tools allow drugmakers to build their own drug development platforms while relying on Nvidia’s hardware infrastructure.
On Monday, Nvidia also released several new AI models, including an updated model designed to ensure that drugs created using AI tools can be practically synthesized in real-world laboratory settings.
Speaking at a press briefing, Nvidia Vice President of Healthcare Kimberly Powell said both companies are committing “incremental resources” to the new facility. She added that the lab’s exact location will be announced in March. Researchers from Nvidia and Eli Lilly will work side by side at the centre to generate new data that will be used to train biotechnology-focused AI models.
The joint lab marks a deeper collaboration between the chipmaker and the pharmaceutical company as AI continues to play a growing role in transforming drug discovery and development.
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