AI in Drug Discovery Market to Reach $17.56 Billion by 2031
The AI in drug discovery market is projected to grow from $5.09 billion in 2026 to $17.56 billion by 2031, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 28.1%.
The market for artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery is on a significant growth trajectory, with projections indicating it will reach $17.56 billion by 2031, up from an estimated $5.09 billion in 2026. This represents a substantial compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.1% over the forecast period.
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly adopting integrated AI platforms that span the entire drug discovery continuum, moving beyond isolated applications. This shift towards unified workflows, combining biological data, computational chemistry, and experimental validation, enables faster prioritization of drug candidates and more informed portfolio management.
North America led the market in 2025 with a 44.9% share. In terms of therapeutic areas, oncology held the largest segment at 38.6%. The deployment model expected to see the highest growth is cloud-based solutions, with a projected CAGR of 28.7%.
This expansion is driven by the need to improve R&D productivity and the growing investment in precision medicine. Large-scale collaborations, such as NVIDIA and Eli Lilly's recent initiative to develop foundation models for biology and chemistry, highlight the strategic importance of AI infrastructure and integrated platforms in accelerating the drug development process.