In the cavernous hall of Kraftwerk, a former power station in Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang sat down to discuss Germany’s AI roadmap, and in particular, the industrial applications of AI.
Huang opened by tracing NVIDIA’s longstanding relationship with German industry, beginning with gaming systems, workstations and automotive design in the early 2000s and leading to today’s partnerships in autonomous vehicle development and digital twins for manufacturing.
The conversation focused on how Germany can make the most of the AI revolution by playing to its strengths in manufacturing and automotive — and by encouraging AI adoption across the country’s ecosystem of small and medium-sized companies.
Earlier in the day, as part of the Invest in Germany Summit, Chancellor Merz, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space signed a Joint Declaration of Intent with NVIDIA.
The German federal government’s aim is to merge traditional German engineering and manufacturing expertise with cutting-edge research and AI technology. The declaration sets out an agreement to work on a joint initiative with NVIDIA to advance cutting edge AI models for physical AI.
Formalizing and expanding NVIDIA’s collaboration with Germany’s federal government and its “Industry 4.0 Platform,” which is comprised of representatives from politics, industry, research and trade associations, helps achieve the government’s stated goal to “systematically bring industrial AI into widespread use and to establish a state-of-the-art industrial AI ecosystem in Europe.”
Germany’s Ambition to Integrate AI With Industry
Merz and Huang dug into industrial AI and how NVIDIA can help Germany lead the way. The German Chancellor first laid out his government’s ambition.
“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. “I’m really optimistic that we will be one of the leading, if not the leading, country in the world in terms of the spread of AI for all the companies — our manufacturers, machinery, automotive industry and suppliers of the automotive industry. I think this is a great opportunity.”
Merz called out the leaders of the small and medium businesses — the Mittelstand — in the audience.
“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.”
Huang agreed, and praised Germany’s world-class expertise in manufacturing companies both large and small, as well as its math and science excellence. That national expertise and knowledge is what sets the German economy apart, he said, and AI will only amplify it.
“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.”
Germany’s expertise with physical technologies is a differentiator, Huang and Merz agreed, and a powerful accelerator for the German economy when AI is included.
“If we are successful in bringing these two aspects and parts of the business of the future together,” Merz said. “I’m really very optimistic that Germany can be one of the most successful economies in the world.”
Huang described AI’s impact across virtually every industry as a new industrial revolution.
“This industrial revolution is so mighty, so powerful,” Huang said. “In the Chancellor’s words, you are re-engineering Germany. This is your chance to do it well.”
Merz envisioned a regular reunion with Huang to assess the progress Germany is making with AI.
“I would like to see him regularly, let’s say at least once a year, and discuss the progress we made,” Merz said, “And see a guy sitting in my office being extremely happy about Germany as a place to invest.”
NVIDIA’s Investments in Germany
Huang also announced new investments in four German startups, part of a nearly $10 billion commitment by NVIDIA to support companies, universities, research institutions and more across Europe.
NVIDIA has been investing across Germany’s startup ecosystem, supporting leading technology companies including n8n, Neura Robotics and Black Forest Labs.
Today, Huang announced new planned investments in Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo and Reflex Aerospace.
Agile Robots, a Munich-based robotics company, builds AI-powered robots, from robotic arms to its Agile ONE humanoid, for manufacturing, logistics and healthcare.
Avelios Medical, a Munich-based healthcare technology startup, develops an AI-native hospital information system that serves as the core system of record for clinical and administrative workflows, integrating AI directly into hospital operations to free up doctors and nurses to deliver better patient care.
Mirelo, a German startup, develops AI models that generate sound effects, speech and music for video, helping creators and production teams produce high-quality audio that perfectly matches their visuals on screen.
Reflex Aerospace, a Berlin-based space scaleup, designs and builds high-performance satellites ready for launch in about 12 months instead of years.
Siemens and NVIDIA Advance Autonomous Manufacturing; Record-Breaking Quantum Simulation
Earlier in the day, Siemens announced it’s partnering with NVIDIA to advance AI-driven, autonomous factories. Siemens showcased new AI solutions at its Erlangen factory, advancing its role as a global blueprint for autonomous manufacturing. Fully virtual production ramp-up reduces engineering effort by up to 85%, while agent-based production planning enables more adaptive manufacturing and cost savings of up to 20%.
NVIDIA researchers used JUPITER, Europe’s largest supercomputer at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, to run a record-breaking simulation of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The 104-qubit simulation is the largest and most detailed of its kind to date.