By Associated Press
Publication Date: 2026-10-19 21:18:00
By DAVID McHUGH
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang urged Germany’s makers of cars and industrial machines to quickly adopt artificial intelligence to “re-engineer” the country’s struggling business model by tapping its wealth of manufacturing data and expertise.
Huang, whose company designs the powerful computer chips and software used by companies like Anthropic and OpenAI to develop AI applications, said that digital technology would never replace manufacturing and the engineering world of cars and robots where Germany has vast experience.
Or, as he put it, “electrons will never replace atoms.” But he said industry would benefit by leaning into technology.
“The next wave of AI is physical. This is where AI interacts with the physical world: robotics, manufacturing, cars, heavy industry,” Huang said Monday during a discussion with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at an investment conference in Berlin.
“And so AI can only augment your capability. It will not replace your capability. So take advantage of the technology.”
Huang said Germany’s data and expertise on manufacturing “is your natural resource, it belongs to the nation” but it needs to take better advantage of AI. “This industrial revolution is so mighty, so powerful. You don’t have another chance,” he said.