By Michael Erman
Publication Date: 2026-04-22 11:02:00
By Michael Erman
NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) – Drugmaker Merck & Co said on Wednesday it will partner with Google Cloud to build up its artificial intelligence capabilities, investing as much as $1 billion with Google over a number of years to fund AI infrastructure, engineers and licensing of the tech company’s Gemini Enterprise platform.
The partnership, announced at Google’s Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, builds on work already underway between the companies and includes Google Cloud engineers working alongside Merck teams, executives from both companies said.
“I easily see us investing a billion over the next several years in this, in those capabilities,” Dave Williams, Merck’s chief information and digital officer, said in an interview. “We’re not just buying tokens. It is really the tool set” Google Cloud offers, he said, including Gemini Enterprise and the company’s engineers.
Williams said the companies haven’t defined a specific…