Siemens picks its own Erlangen plant as the blueprint for AI-driven factories
Announced with NVIDIA at CES 2026: the aim is a fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing site, starting in Erlangen this year.
At CES in January 2026, Siemens and NVIDIA expanded their partnership. Among the plans: to “build the world’s first fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing sites globally, starting in 2026 with the Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen, Germany, as the first blueprint” (Siemens).
Who brings what
Siemens says NVIDIA will provide AI infrastructure, simulation libraries, models, frameworks and blueprints. Siemens will commit “hundreds of industrial AI experts” plus its hardware and software. The companies named four impact areas: AI-native EDA, AI-native simulation, AI-driven adaptive manufacturing and supply chain, and AI factories.
“Siemens is delivering AI-native capabilities, intelligence embedded end-to-end across design, engineering and operations, to help our customers anticipate issues, accelerate innovation and reduce cost.”Roland Busch, President and CEO, Siemens AG
On the floor
Siemens has not yet published what “fully AI-driven” will mean on the Erlangen floor: which decisions move to software, and which stay with people. That is the detail we will be watching for. A blueprint is only useful to other plants if it shows the hand-offs, not just the outcome.
Work on this line?
If you run, build or work beside one of these systems, tell us what it is like on the floor. Send a tip or report an error.
Next stops
Bitkom: 57% of German firms now use AI. None say they use it fully
The share has nearly tripled in two years. But 59% say they are not using AI's potential at all, and one in three sees its own existence at risk.
107 days to go: what the Machinery Regulation means for self-learning safety functions
From 20 January 2027, any safety function that learns on its own needs a notified body. Self-certification is off the table for it.
BMW starts its first humanoid robot pilot in Europe, at Plant Leipzig
Hexagon Robotics' AEON, built in Zurich, works on battery module assembly and component production. It follows a 10-month US pilot.