NVIDIA, Lilly launch $1 billion AI research hub for drug discovery, manufacturing

NVIDIA and Eli Lilly will invest up to $1 billion over five years to launch an AI-powered drug discovery and manufacturing lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, combining advanced computing, robotics and biomedical research to speed medicine development.

Nathaniel Alexander Abaño January 14, 2026

The companies said the collaboration will initially focus on creating a “continuous learning system” that tightly links wet-lab experimentation with computational modeling. Image source: NVIDIA

Chipmaker NVIDIA and pharma giant Eli Lilly will invest up to $1 billion over five years to build an artificial intelligence (AI) co-innovation lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, aiming to accelerate drug discovery and manufacturing using advanced computing and robotics.

Announced at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, the partnership brings together Lilly’s expertise in discovering, developing and producing medicines with NVIDIA’s leadership in AI software, accelerated computing and infrastructure.

Innovation hub

The lab will co-locate biologists, chemists and medical researchers from Lilly with NVIDIA AI engineers to generate large-scale data and develop next-generation models for biology and chemistry.

The facility will be built on NVIDIA’s BioNeMo platform and powered by its upcoming Vera Rubin architecture, extending Lilly’s earlier investments in AI computing. Lilly last year unveiled what it described as the pharmaceutical industry’s most powerful AI supercomputer, built using more than 1,000 of NVIDIA’s Grace Blackwell chips.

The companies said the collaboration will initially focus on creating a “continuous learning system” that tightly links wet-lab experimentation with computational modeling.

This scientist-in-the-loop approach is designed to enable round-the-clock AI-assisted experimentation, allowing data, experiments and models to continuously inform and refine each other, shortening the time needed to identify and optimize new drug candidates.

The lab, expected to begin work in South San Francisco early this year, will also support startups and researchers through access to large-scale computing resources.

Operational expansion

“AI is transforming every industry, and its most profound impact will be in life sciences,” NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang said, adding that the partnership could allow researchers to explore vast biological and chemical spaces digitally before producing a single molecule in the lab.

Lilly CEO David Ricks said combining the company’s proprietary data and scientific knowledge with NVIDIA’s computing power could “reinvent drug discovery,” creating conditions for breakthroughs that neither company could achieve independently.

Beyond early-stage discovery, the partners plan to apply AI across clinical development, manufacturing and commercial operations. Robotics and so-called physical AI will be used to scale medicine production, while digital twins of manufacturing lines and supply chains will help Lilly stress-test and optimize operations before making physical changes.