NVIDIA and Eli Lilly have entered into a strategic collaboration to establish a joint AI innovation lab designed to reinvent drug discovery through artificial intelligence. The lab, to be located in the San Francisco Bay Area, will combine Lilly’s expertise in biology, science, and medicine with NVIDIA’s strengths in AI, accelerated computing, and advanced infrastructure.
BioNeMo And Vera Rubin Infrastructure Take Center Stage
According to the announcement, the companies intend to invest up to $1 billion over a five-year period to support the initiative. Scientists from Lilly will work side by side with NVIDIA’s AI researchers and engineers to develop large-scale datasets and powerful AI models, with NVIDIA BioNeMo serving as a core platform for model development.
The initial focus of the collaboration will be to tightly integrate Lilly’s experimental “wet labs” with computational “dry lab” environments into a continuously learning system. The goal is to enable 24/7 AI-driven experimentation and data generation, allowing experimental results and AI models to continuously inform and improve one another.
Robotics, Physical AI And Digital Twins Are On The Agenda
Beyond early drug discovery, the partnership also aims to develop next-generation foundation and advanced models for biology and chemistry. In addition, the companies plan to expand the use of AI across clinical development, manufacturing, and commercial operations, including applications such as agentic AI, robotics, and digital twins.
The announcement noted that the new lab builds on Lilly’s previously disclosed investments in an AI supercomputer and AI factory infrastructure. These combined efforts are expected to significantly accelerate the identification, optimization, and validation of new drug candidates. Operations at the joint AI innovation lab are expected to begin in South San Francisco later this year.
Source: globenewswire.com
