Germany's government plans to work with NVIDIA, the chip company, on AI models built for factories and machines. Two federal ministries, one for the economy and energy and one for research, technology and space, signed a joint declaration of intent with NVIDIA on Monday, Oct. 19, at the Invest in Germany Summit in Berlin, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The government says the aim is to bring AI into wide use across industry and build a modern industrial AI sector in Europe, with strong German companies and research institutes.
The work centers on physical AI, AI that senses and acts in the real world through machines such as robots and self-driving cars. The government says the partners will focus on developing specialized open models for industry, AI models whose trained files are published so developers can adapt them and run them on their own computers, starting from NVIDIA open models such as Nemotron and Cosmos. It says NVIDIA will widen its work with German partners for this, and the effort will draw on Germany's industrial data, manufacturing skill and engineering know-how. Research institutes and smaller companies are to take part, so the gains can reach the Mittelstand, Germany's many small and midsize firms. On stage, Merz urged those firms: "Please open your doors for AI to make use of your data."
The partnership's hub is Plattform Industrie 4.0, a network of government, industry, research and trade groups. The government says the network is being refocused entirely on industrial AI and is open to any company.
The same day, NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang announced planned investments in four German startups: Agile Robots, a Munich robot maker whose machines run from robot arms to a human-shaped robot; Avelios Medical, a Munich company that makes hospital software with AI built in; Mirelo, which makes AI that creates sound effects, speech and music for video; and Reflex Aerospace, a Berlin satellite builder. NVIDIA says the investments are part of a nearly $10 billion commitment to companies, universities and research groups across Europe.
Neither the government nor NVIDIA has said how much money the joint work involves, when the first models will be ready or who will be able to use them. NVIDIA also did not say how much it is putting into each startup.