Germany and NVIDIA Partner to Advance Industrial Physical AI

The partnership, solidified at the Kraftwerk summit, expands NVIDIA’s collaboration with the federal Industry 4.0 Platform. Merz issued a direct appeal to the Mittelstand—the small and medium-sized businesses that form the backbone of the German economy—urging them to grant AI systems access to their proprietary operational data. He described this information as the country’s primary competitive advantage in the global technology race.

Jensen Huang emphasized that AI acts as a tool for augmentation rather than replacement, framing the initiative as a re-engineering of the German industrial base. To support this objective, NVIDIA announced investments in four local startups: Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo, and Reflex Aerospace. These commitments are part of a broader $10 billion European funding pledge aimed at bolstering regional research and enterprise development. Meanwhile, Siemens showcased early results from its Erlangen facility, reporting potential engineering efficiency gains of up to 85 percent and production cost reductions of 20 percent through virtualized manufacturing processes. Looking ahead, Merz proposed an annual review with Huang to track the implementation of these technologies across the industrial sector.