Siemens and Nvidia: AI Makes Factories More Flexible

Cooperation Siemens and Nvidia Plan to Advance an AI-Powered, Autonomous Factory

2026-10-21 Source: dpa 1 min Reading Time

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In Erlangen (Germany), Siemens and Nvidia are demonstrating how AI could transform factories. The electronics plant there is intended to serve as a blueprint for other factories.

The Siemens plant in Erlangen is set to become a global model for AI-supported, autonomous manufacturing.(Image: Siemens AG) — The Siemens plant in Erlangen is set to become a global model for AI-supported, autonomous manufacturing.
(Image: Siemens AG)

Board member Cedrik Neike sees bringing artificial intelligence into factories and deploying it on an industrial scale as a “historic opportunity for Germany and Europe.” He believes this is the only way to further increase productivity and secure manufacturing even in high-wage countries.

The goal of the initiative is to make processes faster and more flexible. Until now, factories could be automated to 30 or 40 percent; with AI, 70 or 80 percent is possible, says Neike.

A key point here is that it makes it possible to do this even with diverse and changing processes. “Factories must be able to handle change just as well as they handle repetition,” says Rev Lebaredian of Nvidia.

In Erlangen, the companies are demonstrating this using the example of automatic optical inspection of printed circuit boards. At the plant, these boards are constantly changing—depending on their exact configuration. Until now, it has been necessary to manually teach the system what a good board looks like. This used to take several hours each time and required halting production.

Now, even before production begins, it is possible to use Nvidia's simulation technology to generate an image from the digital twin showing what a high-quality, photorealistic printed circuit board would look like—as well as what defective boards would look like.

Another application is production planning, in which a person ultimately determines, through interaction with AI agents, how the plan will be implemented. Here, too, digital twins and simulation serve as the crucial foundation.

Interest in the technology that combines digital twins and simulation is very high and ultimately comes from all industries, says Neike. Lebaredian has a striking explanation for this: Ultimately, the digital twin is a time machine because it shows you different futures through simulations. “And who wouldn’t need a time machine?”

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