Advanced Micro Devices is investing $20 million in Absci, a drug-discovery company based in Washington state, in a move aimed at selling its artificial intelligence chips in the healthcare sector. The deal is structured as a private investment in a public equity and includes an equity stake in Absci. AMD didn’t disclose the amount of its stake. AMD, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., said the investment and partnership between the two companies will help reduce hardware costs and optimize AI solutions for Absci. The move is AMD’s first attempt to gain footing in life sciences with its AI chips, a space also targeted by its rival Nvidia. In 2023, Nvidia invested $50 million to boost Recursion Pharmaceuticals’ AI-based drug-discovery efforts and provided the underlying hardware for that work. Mark Papermaster, AMD’s chief technology officer, said its relationship with Absci is the first of many efforts to make its graphics processing units, or GPUs, available to certain industries.

Full report : The $20 million deal gives the chip supplier a toehold in the life-sciences market, a strategy it plans to replicate in other industries.