Bristol Myers Squibb is buying the latest-generation computing system from chipmaker Nvidia to power its use of artificial intelligence across drug research. According to Reuters, the pharmaceutical company said on Monday the hardware will support AI "across its drug discovery and development operations."
The system is built on Nvidia's newest platform, referred to in coverage as the Vera Rubin SuperPOD, a so-called "AI factory." According to pharmaphorum, BMS says it is the first life sciences company to buy this new AI supercomputing blueprint from Nvidia, and that it expects the machine to deliver a "step change" in computational power. Multiple outlets, including Fierce Biotech, report that BMS is aiming to build what it calls the "most powerful AI factory in life sciences."
This is not the company's first foray into large-scale AI. According to Nvidia's own blog, BMS already runs one of the largest AI clusters in life sciences and is now "doubling down" by deploying its second Nvidia system—an expansion one Nvidia staffer jokingly dubbed the "SuperDuperPOD."
Not everyone is taking the superlatives at face value. STAT notes that BMS is "the latest company to claim it's building pharma's largest Nvidia AI supercomputer," a reminder that such boasts have become common as drugmakers race to adopt AI. Bloomberg frames the arrangement as a partnership between Bristol Myers and Nvidia on an AI factory for drug development.
Why it matters: The deal is another sign that the world's biggest drugmakers see raw computing power—and Nvidia's chips in particular—as central to the future of finding new medicines, potentially shortening the slow, costly path from lab to patient.