Siemens and NVIDIA expand industrial AI partnership

Siemens and NVIDIA have recently announced an expansion of their longstanding partnership, with a focus on developing an Industrial AI operating system that will cover the entire industrial value chain. This collaboration, unveiled at CES, signifies a deeper integration of AI technology into various aspects of design, engineering, manufacturing, and operations within the industrial sector.

The partnership aims to connect AI, digital twins, and accelerated computing directly to factory floors, semiconductor design flows, and industrial infrastructure. These are areas where European industry possesses strong capabilities and faces significant competitive pressures.

Building an industrial AI operating system

Central to this extended partnership is a joint initiative to incorporate AI-native workflows into industrial software and automation processes. NVIDIA will provide AI infrastructure, simulation libraries, models, and frameworks, while Siemens is dedicating hundreds of industrial AI specialists in addition to its hardware and software offerings.

According to Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, “Together, we are building the Industrial AI operating system — redefining how the physical world is designed, built, and operated — to scale AI and generate real-world impact.” This collaboration aims to empower customers to accelerate product development, enhance digital twin capabilities, adjust production processes in real time, and advance technologies from chip manufacturing to AI-driven factories.

NVIDIA views this partnership as a natural progression of its expansion beyond data centers into physical systems. Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, stated, “Generative AI and accelerated computing have sparked a new industrial revolution, transforming digital twins from passive simulations into active intelligence that impacts the physical world.”

From digital twins to adaptive factories

One of the primary objectives of the Siemens-NVIDIA partnership is to establish fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing facilities. The companies plan to kick off this initiative in 2026 at the Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen, Germany, which will serve as a model for future implementations.

Through the use of an “AI Brain,” these factories will continuously analyze digital twins, virtually test modifications, and implement validated enhancements on the shop floor. This approach is designed to reduce commissioning time, enhance productivity, and mitigate operational risks. Initial trials are already underway with key customers such as Foxconn, HD Hyundai, KION Group, and PepsiCo.

Accelerating EDA and AI factory design

Furthermore, the partnership extends into electronic design automation (EDA). Siemens is set to integrate GPU acceleration across its simulation portfolio and expand support for NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries and AI physics models, with the goal of achieving 2x to 10x speed improvements in verification, layout, and process optimization.

Beyond semiconductor chips, Siemens and NVIDIA are collaboratively defining a standardized blueprint for next-generation AI-driven factories, addressing aspects such as power efficiency, cooling systems, automation, and overall lifecycle effectiveness. By initially implementing these technologies internally, the partners aim to demonstrate scalability before introducing them to various industries — a practical approach that is likely to resonate well with industrial clients seeking tangible outcomes rather than mere AI buzz.