Merck Inks Google Cloud Agentic AI Deal Worth as Much as $1 Billion
Executive Summary
Merck will build an agentic AI platform on Google Cloud across its research and development, manufacturing, commercial operations, and corporate functions in a deal valued up to $1 billion.
Under the multiyear deal, Gemini Enterprise and Google Cloud’s other AI services will be deployed at the multinational pharmaceutical company to enhance its digital backbone. In addition, Google Cloud will provide engineers to work alongside Merck teams to deploy AI.
For Google Cloud, the Merck win is not only a big financial win but also serves as a model for using forward-deployed engineers (FDEs). In the Merck case, Google Cloud is providing engineers, but at Google Cloud Next 2026, the company also highlighted how FDEs were being utilized with partners.
