US Nvidia to Build 60.2 Billion KRW Supercomputer in the UK

Utilized for Healthcare and New Drug Development to Combat Epidemics
Expected to Reduce Analysis Time of Millions of Molecules by Over 3 Years

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] U.S. chip manufacturer NVIDIA is investing 40 million pounds (approximately 60.2 billion KRW) to build the most powerful supercomputer in Cambridge, UK. This supercomputer will be used for healthcare and new drug development to respond to pandemics such as COVID-19.

According to CNBC on the 5th (local time), NVIDIA announced that it will build a supercomputer named 'Cambridge-1' by the end of this year. NVIDIA plans to invest 40 million pounds solely in this project.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said, "The Cambridge-1 supercomputer will serve as a hub of innovation for the UK," adding, "Furthermore, it will be groundbreaking in the critical medical and drug development fields conducted by national researchers."

The first partners for this supercomputer will include pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, gene analysis company Oxford Nanopore, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and researchers from King's College.

Cambridge-1 is expected to shorten the costly and time-consuming drug development process by rapidly analyzing millions of molecules using machine learning algorithms. In January, a drug molecule discovered by an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm entered clinical trials in just 12 months, whereas the usual process takes about 4 years and 6 months.

NVIDIA announced that Cambridge-1 will rank 29th among the world's top 500 most powerful supercomputers.

In addition to Cambridge-1, NVIDIA also unveiled an AI toolkit called 'NVIDIA Clara Discovery.' This kit is specially designed for new drug discovery and can assist research by analyzing large-scale data, including information on existing treatments and research literature.

Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health, stated, "There has never been a more important time to accelerate drug discovery," adding, "This kind of investment can make a real difference in the fight against numerous diseases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.