In 2023, Merck & Co. spent more than half of its revenue on R&D. Sure, the figure was inflated thanks to its $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences, which it budgeted as an R&D cost. But Moderna spent even more as a percentage, $4.85 billion of its $6.85 billion revenue in revenue on R&D while…
This week in AI: Musk unveils world’s largest AI cluster, OpenAI eyes premium subscriptions
From accelerating drug discovery to automating patent searches, AI is popping up in a growing number of R&D contexts. Two of the top stories this week had a direct NVIDIA connection — first, Elon Musk’s announced what he terms the world’s largest GPU cluster, featuring 100,000 of its H100 GPUs, designed to power his new…
From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: A global tour of 20 R&D hotspots
[Updated August 8, 2024] The global R&D map is being redrawn, caught between forces of nationalism and the undeniable pull of international collaboration. While the aftershocks of the pandemic and shifting political winds have led some nations to turn inward, the race for innovation is driving a surprising surge in cross-border investment. For instance, South…
An interactive 3D map of global innovation hubs
Silicon Valley is still where it’s at in terms of R&D. Yes, the region has cut roughly 45,000 tech jobs since 2022, but its dominance in research and development remains unchallenged, based on data from The 2023 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. And despite the layoffs, many tech companies have reported significant revenue growth. NVIDIA…
Some pundits sound alarm on AI’s $1 trillion gamble
A trillion-dollar question hangs over the booming field of artificial intelligence: will the massive investment pay off? Jim Covello, the head of global equity research at Goldman Sachs, sounds a note of caution. “AI technology is exceptionally expensive,” he warns, and to earn back the projected trillion-dollar cost of development and infrastructure, “the technology must…