NVIDIA and Eli Lilly & Company outlined a bold collaboration to build a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence co-innovation laboratory aimed at rewriting the rules of drug discovery. The pledge of up to $1 billion in combined investment over five years was revealed on the opening day of the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
Spearheaded by NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang and Lilly Chair and CEO David Ricks at a high-profile fireside chat. The initiative seeks to bring together world-class expertise in biopharmaceutical research with NVIDIA’s leading accelerated computing and AI platforms.
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the co-innovation lab will co-locate teams from both companies to pursue advanced applications of AI in molecular modeling, biological simulation, and automated laboratory workflows.
NVIDIA and Lilly believe that tightly integrated AI systems, where computational modeling and laboratory experimentation continuously inform one another, can accelerate progress significantly. According to executives, this “scientist-in-the-loop” framework will enable researchers to simulate, test and refine candidate molecules far quicker than conventional methods permit.
“This collaboration is establishing a *blueprint for what’s possible in the future of drug discovery,” Huang said during the discussion. “We’re systematically bringing together some of the brightest minds in computer science and biopharma to tackle the greatest scientific challenges of our time.” Ricks underscored the cultural and practical shift this partnership signifies, describing each new molecular discovery as both artistic and now, with AI increasingly engineering-oriented.
The lab builds on earlier steps taken by both organizations, including Lilly’s deployment of one of the industry’s most powerful AI supercomputers and NVIDIA’s recent expansion of its BioNeMo AI platform — designed specifically for biological and chemical modeling tasks. NVIDIA will contribute technology stacks based on its Vera Rubin architecture, as well as open-source tools that enable large-scale data generation and machine learning model training.
The announcement also coincides with NVIDIA’s unveiling of additional collaborations, including work with instrumentation and lab automation firms, that further embed AI into scientific workflows at scale. Together, these moves signal a strategic expansion by the company beyond its core datacenter business and into the heart of biological research.
As the conference continues, both NVIDIA and Lilly executives characterized the new lab as a long-term commitment that could redefine how medicines are conceived, optimized and ultimately brought to patients. With the first phase of operations expected to begin later this year, stakeholders across biotech and healthcare will be watching closely to see whether the ambitious partnership can deliver on its transformative promise.
