Nvidia and Eli Lilly have announced a partnership to build and operate a joint research lab, a plan unveiled at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January. The chip maker and pharmaceutical company stated they are collaborating on this initiative.
The companies will allocate up to $1 billion over five years for construction, personnel, and computing costs to build, staff, and equip the facility. Its computer systems will be powered by Vera Rubin chips, Nvidia's latest artificial intelligence processors.
Researchers from each company will collaborate to generate new data, helping to train AI models that can advance the drug discovery process. In October, Eli Lilly announced it had drafted Nvidia to help build a supercomputer for early-stage drug development.
In a press release, Eli Lilly quoted its CEO, David Ricks, as saying, "Combining our volume of data and scientific knowledge with Nvidia's computational power and model-building expertise could reinvent drug discovery as we know it." He added, "By bringing together world-class talent in a start-up environment, we're creating the conditions for breakthroughs that neither company could achieve alone."
The partnership holds promise for advancing drug discovery. Nvidia gains expertise and renown in the field, tying its reputation to AI healthcare advances.