Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a regular part of everyday life. We’re using it to meal plan, find kid-friendly activities, or plan a vacation. At work, people are writing better emails, taking better notes, building presentations—all thanks to AI.
At Lilly, we’re embedding AI as a core scientific capability rather than a standalone tool and transforming how scientists, researchers, chemists and engineers work. Now, LillyPod—Lilly’s new supercomputer powered by NVIDIA, the world leader in AI computing, could redefine what’s possible. Paired with our co-innovation lab, LillyPod forms part of a continuously learning system—where new AI capabilities are rapidly developed, validated, and then scaled across the enterprise—helping Lilly accelerate experimentation, improve precision, and make smarter, faster decisions.
As the most powerful supercomputer in the pharmaceutical industry, powered by NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD B300 and including 1,016 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, LillyPod has the potential to expand our ability to discover and develop new medicines faster. All with the aim of operating under our 2030 sustainability goals of carbon-neutrality and 100% renewable electricity.
“Lilly’s mission is to make life better for people around the world, and today that requires excellence not just in science but also in technology,” said Diogo Rau, executive vice president and chief information and digital officer at Lilly. “I don’t believe any other company in our industry is doing what we do at this scale. As a 150-year-old medicine company, one of our most powerful assets is decades of data. With purpose-built models and AI, we aim to set a new scientific standard that accelerates innovation to deliver medicines to more patients, faster.”
As a 150-year-old medicine company, one of our most powerful assets is decades of data.
Combining our scientific expertise with NVIDIA’s leadership in AI computing as LillyPod comes online can enhance the way we work. Turning data into actionable insights that can ultimately help patients, our goals are:
- Unlock deeper biological knowledge down to the individual cell and molecule levels. Instead of just fine-tuning public AI models built from widely available data, we have the potential to build powerful models using our own internal data. This includes lessons learned from millions of molecules that didn’t succeed. Some of these models will be available on Lilly TuneLab, an AI/machine learning drug discovery platform created to expand access to advanced discovery tools across the biopharma ecosystem.
- Help us develop scientific AI agents. Think about it as digital assistants that can support researchers in thinking through problems, planning experiments and working together across digital tools and real-world labs.
- More precise and personal care. It is expected to provide tools to study entire genomes, design smarter and more efficient clinical trials, and advance our imaging-based research—enabling us to potentially better predict how patients will respond to treatments and drive more personalized care.
- Advance manufacturing operations. By using digital twins—virtual models that let us test and fine-tune supply chains—we’ll be able to make more informed real-world changes. It may also power robotics that help with production tasks, as well as real-time monitoring capabilities to catch issues early, reduce downtime, and keep quality high, scaling our capacity to manufacture high-demand medications.
From early mainframe systems in the 1950s to pioneering commercial supercomputing decades ago, Lilly has consistently invested in leading-edge technology to accelerate scientific breakthroughs. The launch of LillyPod, fueled by our 150 years of history, will take us into a new era of innovation.
By combining the best of human expertise with AI, we’re redefining how quickly we can turn breakthrough science into medicines that help people live healthier lives.
[Transition from black to interview.]
[Music fades in.]
[00:00:00-00:00:04]
DIOGO RAU: It's a big day for us with the supercomputer coming on board, but it's a day 150 years in the making.
[Black and white scenes of an old IBM computer and three men at a computer switchboard pressing buttons.]
[00:00:05-00:00:10]
DIOGO RAU: One of the things that I love is that we were one of the first adopters of computing of pretty much every kind.
[00:00:11-00:00:23]
DIOGO RAU: Back in the 1950s.We were doing something much bigger than anybody else was doing.
We brought in the entire IBM mainframe system, taking up an entire floor as Lily people prepared for the arrival of a giant electronic computer.
[Black and white scenes of exteriors of a building with an older car driving by. More black and white scenes of interiors of a building where workers are prepping the floor for construction. Black and white pictures of newspaper articles showing pictures of computer from the year 1989. Picture in color of computer system in a room with a red Lilly sign.]
[00:00:24-00:00:31]
DIOGO RAU: As we move on into the 1980s, we were the first adopter of the Cray 2 supercomputer among any commercial institution.
[Black and white newspaper article headlines popping up one by one talking about Eli Lilly and NVIDIA partnering together for supercomputer.]
[00:00:32-00:00:44]
ANDREW ADAMS: We're really excited about this collaboration with NVIDIA Building Lily Pod together to help us bring medicines to patients even faster using their expertise in model building and compute, and add deep expertise in building medicines.
[Scene of a person’s hands wearing black gloves with a utensil under a microscope. Interior scene of a man adjusting equipment in the racks of the NVIDIA supercomputer. Four men in computer server room talking.]
[00:00:45-00:00:55]
DIOGO RAU: For me, I'm excited about being able to continue Lily's history of doing things first in technology. Today is just one more day in that journey, but it's a big one.
[Transitions into white Lilly logo with black background.]
[Music fades out.]
Lilly Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains management’s intentions and expectations for the future, including with respect to Lilly’s supercomputer, AI investments, the anticipated capabilities, performance, applications, and outcomes from its collaborations, the use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in various facets of Lilly’s operations, and the impact of Lilly’s efforts to use AI to deliver medicines to patients and other initiatives, all of which are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The words “estimate," “may,” “could,” “aim,” "seek,” “will,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to various factors, including the use of artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies in various facets of the company’s operations, including partnerships related to the use of, or the sharing of such technologies with third parties, which may exacerbate competitive, regulatory, litigation, cybersecurity, and other risks. For additional information about the factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from forward-looking statements, please see the company’s latest Form 10-K and subsequent Forms 8-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement. Except as is required by law, the company expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements contained in this press release and the related attachments to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement.