Germany plans a wide-ranging AI cooperation agreement with Nvidia involving investments in the hundreds of millions of euros, Handelsblatt reported on 15 October 2026, citing people familiar with the plans, according to Reuters. The proposed agreement is intended to increase the use of AI in German industry. Handelsblatt said it would be announced at the Invest in Germany conference in Berlin next week, where Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is expected as a guest.
Key points
- Handelsblatt reported that the planned agreement would be built around SOOFI, a German project to develop large AI models.
- The two stated aims are tools for training robots or self-driving vehicles and high-performance models for industry.
- Germany plans to fund computing power and model training, while Nvidia aims to contribute engineers, according to a separate report.
- The agreement is expected to be announced at the Invest in Germany conference in Berlin next week.
SOOFI sits at the centre of the plan
The agreement would be organised around Sovereign Open Source Foundation Models, or SOOFI, Handelsblatt reported. The project began in Germany in 2025 to develop large AI models with research institutions, universities and AI companies. Under the reported plan, that existing collaboration would become the centre of a broader effort involving the government and Nvidia.
One proposed aim is to establish a basis for physical AI tools used to train robots or self-driving vehicles. The other is to help develop high-performance AI models for industrial use. Both are described as aims of the proposed agreement, rather than completed products.
Siemens, Audi and AI research firm Black Forest Labs are among the German companies planning to participate, Breaking the News reported, drawing on Handelsblatt’s account. Their reported participation would put industrial companies alongside the research organisations and AI companies involved in SOOFI. The companies’ participation remains a plan, as does the wider agreement.
Germany’s funding and Nvidia’s engineers
Handelsblatt put the investment associated with the agreement in the hundreds of millions of euros, Reuters reported. Breaking the News reported a more specific description of the government’s intended role: a three-digit million-euro investment to support the project, purchase computing power and train new AI models. Nvidia, for its part, aims to contribute by seconding engineers, among other measures, according to Breaking the News.
The planned division of work gives the state a direct role in paying for the computing capacity and model development, while Nvidia would contribute personnel to the effort. It also places a chipmaker’s engineers within a project conceived to develop models through German research and industry collaboration. These are the roles described in the reports, not terms of an agreement already in force.
Reuters reported that comment was not immediately available from the German government. The government said in September that it remained committed to developing further AI capacity to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The reported SOOFI arrangement would pursue that stated ambition through spending on computing power and model training, with Nvidia’s proposed engineering contribution alongside it.
The earlier Industrial AI Cloud in Munich
Germany and Nvidia have also worked on a separate industrial computing initiative. The German government announced an Industrial AI Cloud in June 2025 after Chancellor Friedrich Merz met Huang in Berlin, Crypto Briefing reported. The proposed facility was expected to house 10,000 GPUs or more, with Nvidia to supply physical equipment, digital tools and specialist knowledge while working with German industry.
Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia launched the Industrial AI Cloud in Munich in November 2025. That earlier project concerned computing infrastructure. The newly reported agreement is centred on SOOFI and its proposed work on industrial models and physical AI tools. Crypto Briefing described the proposed cooperation as building on the cloud project, rather than replacing it.
The Munich cloud was developed with Nvidia and data-centre operator Polarise, according to T-Systems. About €1 billion was invested in expanding the Munich site, T-Systems said.
