German Chancellor Calls for Companies to Open Data to AI, Nvidia Announces New Investments
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, at the Invest in Germany summit in Berlin to "open the door to AI and utilize your data" to promote the integration of AI into manufacturing, machinery, and the automotive industry.
Merz stated that Germany aims to become one of the leading countries in industrial AI applications globally, with the greatest advantage being the existing data held by the Mittelstand. During the summit, Germany's economy and research departments signed a joint letter of intent with Nvidia, focusing on Physical AI models for physical systems such as robotics.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced investments in four German startups: Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo, and Reflex Aerospace, as part of its nearly $10 billion commitment to the European AI ecosystem. Huang emphasized that the next wave of AI is Physical AI, stating that electronics cannot replace atoms and that industrial data is a national resource.
Nvidia has previously collaborated with German automakers like Mercedes-Benz on robotic taxi software and has invested in German ecosystems such as n8n, Neura Robotics, and Black Forest Labs. Germany is seeking to accelerate industrial transformation through AI collaboration to address growth pressures.
Funding is shifting from Nvidia towards German startups and industrial collaborations, while the government's letter of intent aims to guide public and private capital into Physical AI. Beneficiaries include German companies receiving investment and technical support and Nvidia's hardware ecosystem, while small and medium-sized enterprises with closed data face transformation pressures.
Source: Public Information
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Germany has long relied on the precision manufacturing and engineering data of its Mittelstand as a core advantage, but it has faced stagnation and global competition in recent years. Previous initiatives for Industry 4.0 and data-sharing projects have progressed slowly; this time, the Merz government is making AI open data a strategy, shifting the approach from internal digitalization to introducing external computing power and models like Nvidia's to accelerate industrial applications.
The capital pathway focuses on targeted investments within Nvidia's nearly $10 billion commitment to Europe, covering startups in robotics, healthcare, audio, and aerospace, while locking in Physical AI collaborations through the joint letter of intent. The strategic motivation is to combine German industrial data with Nvidia's chips and models, attracting investment while attempting to maintain technological sovereignty and prevent data outflow.
Similar cases exist in other European countries promoting AI through sovereign clouds and chip collaborations, or the U.S. and Asian manufacturing powerhouses integrating industrial data into AI training. Currently, Germany is in a transitional phase from traditional engineering advantages to the integration of industrial AI, with data openness among small and medium-sized enterprises becoming a key variable.
This essentially involves technological substitution and industrial chain restructuring. Industrial data is transformed from a closed asset into input for AI training, with the mechanism being government guidance and Nvidia's investment jointly lowering the adoption threshold, concentrating manufacturing knowledge that was previously dispersed among small and medium-sized enterprises into trainable models, while strengthening Nvidia's position in Physical AI hardware and software.
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