Merck has expanded its artificial intelligence strategy through a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud that could reach up to $1 billion over several years. The agreement will support AI infrastructure, software licensing, and engineering collaboration, with Gemini Enterprise set to play a central role in the rollout across the drugmaker’s operations.
The companies announced the deal on April 22 at Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas. Merck said the partnership will strengthen its digital backbone and support a broader shift toward an AI-enabled enterprise during what it described as a major launch period for the company.
The program covers research and development, manufacturing, commercial operations, and corporate functions. Merck said the aim is to improve productivity, digitize more data, and help teams move scientific and business processes faster across its global organization of about 75,000 employees.
Merck said it plans to deploy Gemini Enterprise across end-to-end research and development workflows. The company also plans to use AI in regulatory work, manufacturing, and commercial activities as it expands the technology beyond earlier use cases.
Executives said the partnership builds on work already underway between the two companies. Dave Williams, Merck’s Chief Information and Digital Officer, said the spending will fund not only AI access but also Google Cloud engineers and broader tools that support enterprise deployment.
Williams said Merck sees long-term value in the arrangement and expects the collaboration to run for at least a decade, though the companies have not set a fixed end date. He added that Merck wants to use AI across the drug development process, including computerized simulations of lab experiments and faster handling of large information-heavy workflows.
Google Cloud said the partnership centers on an agentic AI ecosystem that will work alongside Merck teams. The company said Google Cloud engineers will work directly with Merck staff as the drugmaker scales AI tools across multiple business lines.
Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive of Google Cloud, said the partnership combines Merck’s domain expertise with Google’s AI tools, cloud platform, and cybersecurity capabilities. Both companies said the shared goal is to speed up business processes and support faster delivery of medicines to patients.
The agreement also comes as Google pushes Gemini Enterprise as a unified offering for business customers. At Cloud Next, Google highlighted AI agents and enterprise deployment as core parts of its current cloud strategy.
Merck said the partnership is not starting from scratch. Williams said the company has used AI for about two years to help prepare sections of clinical study reports and now plans to expand this work further.
He also said Merck has already used Google technology to cut the time and cost of compiling reimbursement dossiers for new medicines by about half in some markets. The company said it now uses this capability in active submissions and is scaling it globally.
This early progress gives the new agreement a clear operational base. Instead of testing isolated tools, Merck and Google Cloud now plan to extend AI across core business systems tied to drug research, regulatory execution, manufacturing efficiency, and commercial performance.
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