Novo Nordisk Buys Ginkgo Autonomous Lab for New Waltham R&D Site

Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA ) announced on September 15, 2026 that it has been selected to build an autonomous lab powered by its Reconfigurable Automation Cart (RAC) architecture at Novo Nordisk’s new U.S. research and development site in Waltham, Massachusetts. Novo Nordisk purchased the autonomous lab, and the agreement adds Ginkgo as a provider of the automation tools and software that power the company’s internal laboratories for U.S. R&D.

The agreement expands a relationship in which Novo Nordisk had already worked with Ginkgo as an external R&D partner. Ginkgo characterized the purchase as another indication of a broader shift underway across the life sciences from manual lab benches and walk-up automation toward autonomous labs. The announcement did not disclose financial terms or a delivery timeline for the lab.

“Novo continues to lead the industry in bringing AI and robotics into pharma R&D with their investment in autonomous labs,” said Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. “We’re proud to partner with Novo to put our robotics directly in the hands of Novo scientists.”

RAC Hardware and Catalyst Software

Ginkgo’s autonomous lab systems combine the RAC system’s flexible robotic hardware with the company’s Catalyst integrated software. According to Ginkgo, the combination delivers the speed, scale and reproducibility of automation without losing the flexibility of the lab bench. The system can also connect to AI agents that write protocols or act as a co-scientist, bringing AI directly into the experimental loop.

RACs have been in active use and continuous development for more than eight years, across Ginkgo’s operations and Zymergen’s before Ginkgo acquired Zymergen in 2022, according to Ginkgo’s automation product documentation. The company says its modular approach lets customers combine any instruments, in any number and any order, without redesign, and cites delivery timelines as low as one month for system extensions and three to four months for new builds.

Ginkgo says its automation software is web-based, allowing scientists to launch protocols from anywhere while remaining compliant with large-company IT and information-security requirements. For new instruments, the company’s documented process includes an integration kit, hardware design and testing, and software driver development, and Ginkgo says it typically tests with an identical instrument in its own facility before deploying to a customer via FAT and SAT, with new instrument integration typically adding several months to the deployment schedule. The company also says RACs typically maintain accuracy for a year or more without re-teaching and that adding new RACs does not affect existing teach-points.

A Multi-Year R&D Relationship

The Waltham agreement extends a partnership that began on June 7, 2022, when the companies announced a multi-year collaboration to create novel expression hosts for pharmaceutical products. Under the terms of that partnership, Ginkgo would receive an upfront R&D fee and was eligible to receive milestone payments as the collaboration advanced.

On July 11, 2023, the companies announced the completion of the pilot phase of that work and the achievement of the first milestone, which included extensive modification and testing of a microbial expression system to understand the impact of the modifications on key performance parameters. The partners then moved into a development phase, working toward a more effective production process. Brian Vandahl, senior vice president of Global Research Technologies at Novo Nordisk, said at the time that the milestone gave Novo Nordisk confidence to move into the next phase of the project.

On April 10, 2024, the companies expanded the alliance under a framework agreement initially contemplated to run over five years. The partners set out to improve the manufacturing of Novo Nordisk’s medicines for serious chronic diseases, including diabetes and obesity medications, and planned to collaborate on several early pipeline projects, further technology exploration and engineering of scalable manufacturing solutions across Novo Nordisk’s portfolio. Marcus Schindler, Novo Nordisk EVP and CSO, said the agreement “allows Novo Nordisk to start more projects with Ginkgo in a faster and more agile manner.”

The Waltham site traces to a lease Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced on December 15, 2023 (ARE ): Novo Nordisk had executed a long-term, full-building lease for 165,940 RSF at 60 Sylvan Road, anchoring the Alexandria Center for Life Science – Waltham mega campus in Greater Boston. At the time, 60 Sylvan Road was an active redevelopment project expected to deliver to Novo Nordisk in 2025. The 1.5 million RSF campus also includes 40 and 50 Sylvan Road, 35 Gatehouse Drive and 840 Winter Street. Alexandria described campus amenities including flexible conference and meeting space, an expansive central lawn, collaboration pods, a casual café, a fitness and wellness center, outdoor biking and walking paths and a vertical farm, and noted the campus’s proximity to academic medical centers, Cambridge, downtown Boston and Logan International Airport.

Ginkgo disclosed additional autonomous-lab commissions in its second-quarter 2026 earnings release, dated August 5, 2026 and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Caltech, Northwestern and the University of Maryland have commissioned autonomous labs to be built by Ginkgo under the National Science Foundation’s approximately $400 million investment to establish a national network of AI-enabled cloud labs. MIT Media Lab was awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to build a Cloud Laboratory for Learning supported by Ginkgo RACs. Ginkgo has also begun work on a $47 million, 97-instrument autonomous lab for the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The company describes Nebula, its Boston-based in-house autonomous lab, as the largest in the world, with more than 100 robots able to run experiments around the clock for its Cloud Lab, Datapoints and Solutions businesses. In the same release, Kelly described autonomous labs as increasingly becoming necessary national infrastructure for American science.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Ginkgo reported revenue of $20 million, compared with $39 million in the comparable prior-year period, a decrease of 48% the company attributed primarily to ongoing program rationalization as part of its restructuring activities. GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $57 million, compared with $53 million a year earlier, and Adjusted EBITDA was negative $36 million, down from negative $25 million. Ginkgo held $302 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of June 30, 2026, and reaffirmed expected total 2026 cash burn of $125 million to $150 million.