London (CNN) 鈥� The owner of Novo Nordisk, the drugmaker that gave the world Ozempic and Wegovy, is funding a new supercomputer powered by Nvidia鈥檚 artificial intelligence technology with a key aim of discovering new medicines and treatments.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded France鈥檚 Eviden a contract to build what the computing company says will be one of the world鈥檚 most powerful supercomputers, able to process vast amounts of data using AI.
It should provide 鈥渦nprecedented potential to accelerate groundbreaking scientific discoveries in areas such as drug discovery, disease diagnosis and treatment,鈥澛燙茅dric Bourrasset, Eviden鈥檚 head of quantum computing, said in a .
The supercomputer is expected to be ready for pilot projects before the end of the year and will be housed in Denmark鈥檚 national center for AI innovation.
Named Gefion, the supercomputer will be available for use by researchers from Denmark鈥檚 public and private sectors, and will enjoy the backing of two of the hottest companies in the United States and Europe.
Nvidia is now one of the largest companies on the US stock market, valued at $2.21 trillion. The new supercomputer will use Nvidia鈥檚 latest chip technology.
The foundation, meanwhile, has a controlling stake in Novo Nordisk (), . Its business is booming thanks to the widespread use of its diabetes drug Ozempic for weight loss and the popularity of Wegovy, which contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic.
AI鈥檚 potential to speed up scientific research was highlighted earlier this year when Microsoft () said that a new battery material had been found 鈥渋n a matter of weeks, not years.鈥�
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, part of the US Department of Energy, used a Microsoft system that includes AI models and high-performance computing to winnow 32 million potential inorganic materials to 18 promising candidates in less than four days, Microsoft in January.
Writing about its collaboration with Microsoft, the PNNL on its website: 鈥淭he entire process, from receiving the simulated candidates through producing a functioning battery, took less than nine months, a blink of an eye compared with traditional methods.鈥�
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