By Hamza Faisal

Nvidia took its European charm offensive to Berlin on Monday, with CEO Jensen Huang sharing the stage with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to announce planned investments in four German startups — and to argue that Germany's famed factories, not software labs, are where the next wave of AI will land.

The four targets cover the map of industrial AI: Agile Robots, a Munich company building AI-powered robots for manufacturing, logistics and healthcare; Avelios Medical, also Munich-based, developing an AI-native hospital information system; Mirelo, which builds AI models that generate sound effects, speech and music for video; and Reflex Aerospace, a Berlin company designing satellites it says can go from design to launch in about a year. Nvidia did not say how much it plans to invest in each, or when the deals will close.

The next wave of AI is physical

Huang's pitch to Berlin was a thesis, not just a shopping list. "The next wave of AI will be physical," he told the summit, pointing to robotics, manufacturing, cars and heavy industry as the domains where AI's biggest gains will come next. For Nvidia, the four German bets fit that thesis: stakes in factory-floor applications that extend its reach from chip supply into the software running actual production lines.

"AI can only augment your capability; it will not replace your capability," Huang said — a line aimed squarely at Europe's nervous industrial workforce, and a counter to the narrative that automation comes for jobs first.

Merz wants Germany's data opened up

Merz used the summit to make an unusually direct plea to German business. "We are in the midst of a fundamental economic and technological transformation fuelled by exponential progress in artificial intelligence," he said, urging executives: "Please open your doors for AI to make use of your data."

The chancellor called cooperation with Nvidia "key for Germany's future success" and wants the country to lead the world in AI adoption across manufacturers, machinery makers, carmakers and their suppliers. Germany's economy ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia, though details were not disclosed.

A near-$10 billion European backdrop

The startup investments form part of a commitment of nearly $10 billion — about €8.6 billion — that Nvidia has pledged to companies, universities and research institutions across Europe. The same day, Siemens showed AI planning agents built with Nvidia at its electronics factory in Erlangen, claiming the technology could cut the engineering effort needed to prepare production by up to 85 percent, with AI-driven production planning trimming costs by as much as 20 percent.

Not everyone is taking the announcement at face value: individual amounts and timelines remain undisclosed, and analysts read the Berlin reveal as strategic positioning as much as an industrial shift. But with Huang delivering the main GTC Berlin keynote on Wednesday, October 21, Nvidia's German courtship is only getting louder — and Berlin is listening.

By Hamza Faisal