LAS VEGAS (dpa-AFX) - Industrial giant Siemens and U.S. chip titan Nvidia are significantly expanding their collaboration in the field of Artificial Intelligence. In the keynote address opening the CES technology trade show, Siemens CEO Roland Busch and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced several initiatives aimed at deploying AI not just for the simulation of workflows and design changes, but also to make AI applications more tangible in the physical world. "We are at the beginning of a new industrial revolution," Huang stated. The news was well received on the stock market.
Siemens shares continued their recent rally. The stock rose two and a half percent in early trading to €253.80, marking the highest level in its 126-year stock market history. Over the past twelve months, Siemens shares have risen by almost one third. In the past five years, the share price has more than doubled. With a market capitalization of over €200 billion, the Munich-based company is, after SAP, the second most valuable publicly traded company in Germany.
Simulating Factories in Real Time
Among the concrete innovations is the "Digital Twin Composer." This new tool enables companies to create physically accurate virtual replicas (digital twins) of their factories and products. Engineers can use it to simulate entire factories in real time, train robots virtually, and solve problems before the real factory is even built.
Both companies stated their goal to jointly create a kind of operating system for the use of artificial intelligence in industry. Siemens is contributing its expertise in industrial processes, automation hardware, and software. Nvidia, in turn, is providing its chips for the AI infrastructure as well as a simulation platform.
Busch explained that with these new tools, it is possible not only to assess the aerodynamics of trains or cars in a virtual wind tunnel during the design phase, but also to use AI to generate concrete suggestions for optimizing the design.
Metaverse on the Factory Floor
In another innovation, Siemens is collaborating with U.S. Facebook parent company Meta. The project involves smart glasses that allow industrial workers to receive AI-powered instructions directly in their field of vision or through audio while working on machines.
With CEO Busch's statements in Las Vegas, Siemens is positioning itself more strongly as a technology provider for industrial AI and digitalized production – moving away from its traditional role as a machine manufacturer and toward becoming a "tech partner for real-world AI." /chd/DP/zb/mis
