HANNOVER, Germany, April 24 (Xinhua) — Companies seeking to become key players in industrial artificial intelligence (AI) need to be in China, a senior Siemens executive told Xinhua during the ongoing Hannover Messe 2026, Germany’s flagship industrial trade fair.
“China is a global leader in AI, moving fast on development and adoption, while also having one of the most comprehensive industrial value chains and largest manufacturing market,” said Cedrik Neike, a member of the managing board of Siemens AG and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries.
Neike said Siemens has been deeply rooted in China for more than 150 years, has over 6,000 active patents and patent applications in the country, and is embedded in its local ecosystem.
In March, Siemens launched 26 new products, all developed and manufactured in China and engineered for scale, which, according to Neike, reflects China’s importance in Siemens’ global R&D ecosystem and the company’s confidence in the country’s innovation strength.
“We invest and innovate locally and continue to grow together with our Chinese partners,” he said. “China is and will remain a key market for Siemens.”
Neike said that, at the start of the AI era, Siemens sees new opportunities to work with its Chinese partners in frontier sectors such as new materials, biopharma, aerospace and robotics.
“Because of its momentum, scale and speed, and strong industrial players that are innovating quickly, China is uniquely positioned to bring AI into real-world industrial impact,” he said.
Neike’s remarks came as industrial AI took center stage at this year’s Hannover Messe, which opened Monday under the theme “Think Tech Forward.”
“Industrial AI is moving from experimentation to real-world applications … We are now at the most critical point in the hype cycle,” he said. “The goal is clear: we need to chart a path toward successful applications that make AI lastingly productive.”
In his view, three qualities are essential to make AI a success for companies — curiosity, humility and courage.
“Curiosity means experimenting with industrial AI. Humility means being humble and open to diverse ideas. Courage means being willing to share knowledge and data,” he said.
He noted that Chinese companies possess all these qualities and, “combined with speed and scale, China’s economy is the ideal testbed to develop new technologies and new products with industrial AI.” ■
