Eli Lilly and Nvidia Join Forces to Build Pharma's Most Powerful Supercomputer

In a groundbreaking move set to revolutionize pharmaceutical research and development, Eli Lilly and computing giant Nvidia have announced a collaboration to construct what they claim will be the most powerful supercomputer owned and operated by a pharmaceutical company. This strategic partnership aims to harness the power of artificial intelligence to accelerate drug discovery and development processes.

AI-Powered Research and Development

The new supercomputer will serve as the cornerstone of Lilly's "AI factory," a sophisticated computing infrastructure designed to process vast amounts of data, train models on experiments conducted by Lilly scientists, and generate valuable inferences. This initiative represents a significant shift in Lilly's approach to AI, moving from its use as a mere tool to embracing it as a scientific collaborator.

Thomas Fuchs, Lilly's senior vice president and chief AI officer, emphasized the transformative potential of this technology: "This isn't just about speed, but rather interrogating biology at scale, deepening our understanding of disease and translating that knowledge into meaningful advances for people served by Lilly medicines as well as the broader life sciences ecosystem."

Technical Specifications and Applications

The supercomputer will be the world's first Nvidia DGX SuperPOD with DGX B300 systems, powered by more than 1,000 graphics processing units on a single network. This immense computing power will enable Lilly to pursue several ambitious applications, including:

1. Molecule discovery research
2. Shortened development cycles
3. AI agents to assist scientists with reasoning
4. Advanced medical imaging
5. Digital twins for collaboration with robotic systems to accelerate manufacturing

Moreover, Lilly plans to make some of its models available on its TuneLab platform, allowing early-stage biotechs to access Lilly's models in exchange for providing training data for further model creation.

Environmental Considerations and Industry Context

In line with growing environmental concerns in the pharmaceutical industry, Lilly has announced that the supercomputer will be housed within its existing facilities and run entirely on renewable energy. This commitment to sustainability sets a precedent for future large-scale computing projects in the sector.

While Lilly's supercomputer is poised to be the most powerful in the pharmaceutical industry, it is not the first collaboration between a major pharma company and Nvidia. Earlier this year, Novo Nordisk partnered with Nvidia to utilize a supercomputer in Copenhagen, and in 2020, Nvidia worked with GSK, AstraZeneca, and the UK's National Health Service to build Cambridge-1, then the UK's most powerful supercomputer.