NVIDIA and Eli Lilly announced a $1 billion collaboration to build an AI-powered drug discovery laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area. The pact will combine NVIDIA’s computing platforms with Lilly’s drug-discovery expertise to accelerate biologics and small-molecule programs, with a focus on de‑risking early target selection and lead optimization. The initiative was presented as a long-term investment in proprietary AI workflows and high‑throughput compute infrastructure. The deal signals a shift from single-program collaborations toward platform-level partnerships that aim to scale discovery across multiple therapeutic areas. NVIDIA will supply advanced hardware and software stacks; Lilly will contribute proprietary datasets and drug-development expertise. Industry sources framed the pact as validation that big pharma is betting on AI infrastructure to reduce discovery timelines and costs.