Novo Nordisk is a behemoth by all accounts. The pharma company of Ozempic and Wegovy fame recently surpassed Tesla in its market value, after leapfrogging French conglomerate LVMH.
The only other company, in recent memory, that’s seen supersized growth is the chip designer Nvidia.
Now, imagine a crossover between these two titans.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Danish organization which owns the drugmaker that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, is investing some of the money those blockbuster drugs have earned into a supercomputer. The foundation will collaborate with Nvidia to develop “one of the world’s most powerful” AI supercomputers, according to an announcement by the foundation on Tuesday.
It has contracted Eviden, a French tech company, to build “Gefion,” and will help it discover new medicines and treatments, among other goals. It’s expected to be operational before the end of the year.
“The AI supercomputer [will] … provide an unprecedented potential to accelerate groundbreaking scientific discoveries in areas such as drug discovery, disease diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr. Cédric Bourrasset, the head of quantum computing at Eviden, in a statement. “This new supercomputer will be a powerful resource to further boost AI research and collaboration between academia and Danish industry in Denmark’s already thriving AI-based research ecosystem.”
The Nvidia-backed Gefion will use the company’s latest tech, announced this week, to approach the queries scientists throw at it.
It will be built at Denmark’s national center for AI innovation—and will be available for use by researchers in both the private and public sectors of the country.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation typically awards grants worth DKK 5 billion ($730 million) each year in the fields of science and social work (that figure increased to DKK 9.1 billion last year). It’s pumped roughly DKK 600 million ($87 million) into the initial costs on this project, which will be used by Denmark’s public and private sector researchers.
“Drug discovery, disease diagnosis, and treatment, as well as complicated life science challenges, are examples of areas where extreme AI computing power can enable the positive transformation of our society,” the Foundation’s chief Mads Krogsgaard said.
The Foundation’s senior vice president Lene Oddershede told Coins2Day that the technology it’s backing would “very likely” be used by its pharma company, Novo Nordisk, and will be implemented “on market terms.”
Oddershede also added that the supercomputer’s use cases go well beyond just the drug-making industry, helping address issues such as climate change and sustainable foods.
The popularity of Ozempic and Wegovy has made Novo Nordisk a stock-market power, overtaking Tesla in recent weeks, and has helped propel Denmark’s economy to become the third-most prosperous in Europe.
Beyond the supercomputer, the company is using some of that income to build a “mega manufacturing facility” outside of Dublin to help it keep up with soaring demand.
Nvidia and Eviden have been contacted by Coins2Day for comment.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify references made specifically to the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
