Nvidia, Eli Lilly announce $1 billion investment in AI drug discovery lab
AI chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) announced Monday that the two companies will jointly invest $1 billion to create a laboratory in San Francisco focused on using artificial intelligence to accelerate drug discovery.
“Combining our voluminous data and scientific knowledge with NVIDIA’s computing power and modeling expertise can reinvent drug discovery as we know it,” said Lilly CEO David Ricks.
The $1 billion investment will be spent on the laboratory’s infrastructure, IT and capabilities over five years. Nvidia’s engineers will work with Lilly’s experts in biology, science and medicine to generate large-scale data and create AI models to advance drug development. The companies said the laboratory’s work would begin early this year.
The investment builds on Nvidia and Lilly’s existing partnership. In October Lilly said it was building an artificial intelligence factory with Nvidia’s AI systems to accelerate drug discovery timelines.
Lilly shares had a slight rally on Monday, rising nearly 34% over the past year, outpacing the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) gain of 19%. The company became the first healthcare company to reach a market value of $1 trillion in November.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable company and the first company to surpass $5 trillion in value by 2025. The AI chip maker’s project with Lilly is the latest in a series of investments and deals spanning the AI ecosystem; Some of these have sparked outrage on Wall Street and raised fears of an AI bubble.
Nvidia also invested in a biotechnology company in the field of healthcare recursion and signed partnerships with others industry leadersIncluding Lilly’s rival Novo Nordisk (NVO), Mayo Clinic, Illumina and IQVIA will use artificial intelligence in medical research and development.
“AI is transforming every industry, and its deepest impact will be in life sciences,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday.
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her at Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
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