German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang met at the Kraftwerk, a former Berlin power station, to discuss Germany's push to lead in industrial AI and how NVIDIA will help.

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, with a particular focus on industrial applications of AI.

Huang opened by tracing NVIDIA's longstanding relationship with German industry, which began with gaming systems, workstations and automotive design in the early 2000s and has grown into today's partnerships in autonomous vehicle development and digital twins for manufacturing.

The conversation centered on how Germany can make the most of the AI revolution by building on 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 aims to merge traditional German engineering and manufacturing expertise with cutting-edge research and AI technology. The declaration commits both parties to work on a joint initiative with NVIDIA to advance state-of-the-art AI models for physical AI.

The agreement formalizes and expands NVIDIA's collaboration with the federal government and its "Industry 4.0 Platform," which brings together representatives from politics, industry, research and trade associations. It supports 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 examined industrial AI and how NVIDIA can help Germany lead the way. The 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 singled out the leaders of Germany's small and medium-sized 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, across both large and small companies, as well as its excellence in mathematics and science. He said that this national expertise and knowledge is what sets the German economy apart, and that 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."

Huang and Merz agreed that Germany's expertise in physical technologies is a differentiator and, when combined with AI, a powerful accelerator for the German economy.

"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 proposed a regular meeting with Huang to assess Germany's progress 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, as part of a nearly $10 billion commitment by NVIDIA to support companies, universities, research institutions and others 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 planned new 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. It integrates 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 matches their visuals precisely.

Reflex Aerospace, a Berlin-based space scaleup, designs and builds high-performance satellites that are ready for launch in about 12 months, rather than years.

**Siemens and NVIDIA Advance Autonomous Manufacturing; Record-Breaking Quantum Simulation**

Earlier in the day, Siemens announced a partnership with NVIDIA to advance AI-driven, autonomous factories. Siemens showcased new AI solutions at its Erlangen factory, reinforcing 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.