SK Biopharmaceuticals Acquires 128 NVIDIA DGX B200 Accelerators... AI Drug Development Begins in Earnest

[Financial News] SK Biopharmaceuticals accelerates AI-based drug development by introducing 128 of NVIDIA Corporation's latest AI accelerators, the 'NVIDIA DGX B200.'
SK Biopharmaceuticals announced on the 2nd that it has secured its own AI computing infrastructure by introducing 128 NVIDIA DGX B200 units based on the NVIDIA Blackwell Architecture.
The computational performance of 128 NVIDIA DGX B200 units is 576 petaflops per second (PFLOPS) based on FP8, equivalent to approximately 0.58 exaflops. The company expects that securing large-scale computational resources will enable it to rapidly develop and utilize AI models tailored to its research objectives and data.
This infrastructure was introduced through the GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) cloud subscription service of 'Haein,' a NVIDIA DGX B200-based data center cluster built by SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (SKT).
SK Biopharmaceuticals will prioritize using the infrastructure it has secured to advance 'TR-AX (Translational Research-AI Transformation).' Translational research is the process of connecting nonclinical research results to actual clinical outcomes. The company plans to apply its proprietary bio- and healthcare-specialized foundation model to research on diseases, targets, and compounds.
It will also establish a dedicated large language model (LLM) for use across all business operations, not just research and development. The company plans to expand the use of AI throughout the drug development process, from candidate discovery to research decision-making, while strengthening its data security and governance systems.
The AI infrastructure will also be used for joint research with external companies, research institutions, and universities. The company is also considering identifying business models, such as AI-based research services, and developing them into new revenue streams.
Lee Dong-hoon, CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals, said, "Large-scale AI infrastructure is a core foundation that will determine the competitiveness of future drug development. Based on the NVIDIA DGX B200 infrastructure, we will strengthen TR-AX and expand the use of AI throughout the entire drug development process to improve the speed and efficiency of research and development."

[email protected] Jeong Sang-hee Reporter