At the Invest in Germany Summit in Berlin, the German government entered into an agreement with Nvidia on Monday, when Chancellor Friedrich Merz opened the two-day event by addressing Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO.
The economy ministry has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the chipmaker but has provided no further details; the agreement comes after reports last week that Germany would announce a partnership with Nvidia at the summit.
Nvidia provided further details in a blog post from the company, stating that Merz and two ministries have entered into a joint plan with it. The objective is to develop AI that can operate robots, machines, and cars; this is referred to as physical AI.
Nvidia has also identified four German startups that it intends to invest in, as part of its nearly $10bn commitment in Europe. These companies are Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo and Reflex Aerospace. Moreover, Siemens and Nvidia have agreed to collaborate on AI-operated factories.
“We are fully committed to be one of the most advanced places in the world, not just in the European Union, but in the world to work with AI, to integrate AI into our industry,” Merz said.
He also stated that artificial intelligence was driving major changes in Germany’s economy and that cooperation with Nvidia was important to its future. Merz is under pressure to boost growth as German car manufacturers, chemical companies and engineers face strong overseas competition.
“The biggest advantage we have in Germany is our so-called Mittelstand,” Merz said. “Please open your doors for AI to make use of your data. This is a real secret and a real advantage for Germany to make use of all the data which is already available in our companies.”
At the same time, a number of companies and investors, such as Siemens and Deutsche Bank, put out an estimate. As Reuters reports, this group expects up to 4.1 trillion euros (approximately 4.6 trillion dollars) in potential investment in Germany by 2035 in the areas of AI, energy and defence.
Siemens and Deutsche Bank established Made for Germany, a business initiative consisting of around 150 companies and investors. The initiative stated that its members intend to have invested more than €850bn by 2028, following an investment of over €200bn in 2025.
The German government’s website lists among the companies present at the summit Mercedes-Benz, Bayer, Lufthansa, Deutsche Telekom, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. The summit will end on Tuesday, and Huang is expected to deliver a keynote speech at the Nvidia GTC Berlin conference on Wednesday.
“That knowledge belongs to you,” Huang said. “It cannot be replaced. AI can only augment your capability, it will not replace your capability. Take advantage of the technology. It’s a new instrument.”