Our industry is facing its most profound transformation in decades: AI is moving from promise to productive reality – and fundamentally changing development, manufacturing, and operations. The Industrial AI Cloud is the first sovereign infrastructure operated in Germany that enables physical AI, digital twins, and simulation-based processes on an industrial scale. Right now is the crucial window of opportunity for this.
Europe's economy is facing one of its greatest tests. And it is industry that must master it. Our industrial value creation is the economic backbone of the continent: in Germany, it generates every fifth euro. This industrial core must be strengthened, especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty, a shortage of skilled workers, rising energy and operating costs, and growing demands for sovereignty, security, and compliance.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a productive turning point here. With the help of AI, the transition to Industry 4.0 can be achieved more quickly and efficiently: it is changing business models, transforming value chains, and redefining entire industries. Industrial AI goes far beyond familiar AI language models. Physical AI is artificial intelligence that interacts with the physical world: it simulates, anticipates, learns, and acts. It takes central control and production processes to a new level. In planning scenarios, AI enables simulation-based decisions that were previously based on intuition and the experience of experts. In quality processes, it detects deviations at an early stage and prevents costly errors. And in operational processes, it minimizes downtime, waste, and inefficiencies.
But for AI to actually create value – measurably, reliably, and scalably in operation – more than just isolated pilot projects are needed. An infrastructure is required that makes industrial data usable on a large scale: secure, sovereign, and powerful. The Industrial AI Cloud addresses precisely this requirement. With it, industrial AI applications are ready for production for the first time. And we are not making this infrastructure available in the distant future, but now.
With the Industrial AI Cloud, we have created the first AI stack operated entirely in Germany that meets the requirements of industry and public authorities alike. Deutsche Telekom and T Systems provide connectivity, security, operating models, and the cloud infrastructure. Our T Cloud Public offers a powerful alternative to hyperscalers – at competitive prices. NVIDIA is supplying 10,000 GPUs of the latest Blackwell generation. This will increase the available AI computing power in Germany by around 50 percent.
The Industrial AI Cloud not only enables the training of large language models, but also, for the first time, the sovereign training of large industrial models, multimodal models for image, speech, or sensor data, digital twins of complex production environments, the simulation of physical processes, and real-time inference for productive applications. As model size increases, so do the requirements for computing power, data integration, and governance. That's why our Industrial AI Cloud offers a sovereign, scalable architecture that makes physical AI possible on an industrial scale in the first place.
For AI to actually create value – measurably, reliably, and scalably in operation – more than just isolated pilot projects are needed. An infrastructure is required that makes industrial data usable on a large scale.
Elke Anderl, Chief Commercial Officer, T-Systems
Industrial AI requires depth in several technology disciplines simultaneously. That's why we rely on partners who are leaders in their fields for the Industrial AI Cloud:
SAP complements the crucial business context. SAP systems map real business processes and deliver structured data – the basis for high-quality AI. With the SAP Business Technology Platform, our Industrial AI Cloud provides a proven development environment where AI applications can be quickly implemented and directly integrated into existing processes. We thus cover everything modern AI applications need, from physical infrastructure to software. In this way, we enable companies to implement their AI projects quickly – securely and in compliance with regulations. This applies to industry and small and medium-sized enterprises as well as to the public sector, the healthcare industry, and the defense sector.
Siemens is also part of our partner ecosystem. The Munich-based technology group contributes its many years of engineering and simulation expertise: Simcenter turns digital twins and simulation-based planning into operational tools. This benefits industry and small and medium-sized businesses in particular.
Our AI ecosystem also includes other leading companies and startups from the fields of robotics, physical AI, and engineering, such as Agile Robots, PhysicsX, and Wandelbots.
This interaction creates a holistic technology toolkit that covers all layers: from edge connectivity and infrastructure to industry-specific applications. This makes our Industrial AI Cloud a unique platform on which companies can accelerate their innovations and take their operations to the next level.
In engineering, Industrial AI enables a completely new development logic: AI-supported, physics-based simulations accelerate this process massively. Model variants can be run through hundreds of times faster, reducing the development effort for physical prototypes by up to 70 percent. This not only lowers development costs, but also enables a rapid market launch. Thanks to our Industrial AI Cloud, a leading German car manufacturer can simulate the complete redesign of a truck in a matter of days instead of months.
Industrial AI also has a measurable impact on manufacturing processes: in battery production, for example, adhesive dots and sealants must be applied with precision. Since nozzles can wear out or become clogged, a digital twin connects robots, dispensers, cameras, and process data in real time. This allows deviations to be detected early on and parameters to be adjusted automatically. Defective products are thus stopped before they leave the line.
A digital twin also ensures the highest possible quality in the painting area: it combines sensor data and process parameters, predicts quality influences, and dynamically regulates oven settings and line speed. Checking these parameters can reduce the error rate during the painting process. In practical projects, digital twins deliver up to 30 percent more efficient planning, 65 percent lower operating costs, and 50 percent time savings.
A central element of our Industrial AI Cloud is the independence of European data and AI value chains. With SOOFI – the Sovereign Open Source Foundation Model with 100 billion parameters – the largest German open source LLM is being created on our Industrial AI Cloud. It is trained entirely in Europe and develops its own AI language that reflects the industrial and institutional knowledge of our continent. The approach is deliberately open and sovereign, not proprietary. This is a decisive step for public clients, but also for industry and small and medium-sized enterprises: data remains in Europe, models are traceable, and decisions are controllable.
Europe has everything it needs to regain global strength in the AI age: unique data spaces, outstanding engineering expertise, a strong partner network – and, with the Industrial AI Cloud, a secure, sovereign, and powerful infrastructure – on German soil, under European law and data protection.
Now is the time to combine these strengths. I invite you to view the Industrial AI Cloud not only as a supplement to existing hyperscaler strategies, but as a strategic option that rebalances sovereignty and efficiency. Whether in industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, or the public sector: together we can strengthen Europe's digital competitiveness – and lay the foundation for Europe's digital future.
