Siemens CEO Issues Billion-Euro Ultimatum to Brussels on AI Rules

Siemens CEO Roland Busch warns EU's AI and Data Acts threaten industrial investment, as the firm showcases AI-driven robotics and supply chain gains.

At the Hannover Messe, Siemens CEO Roland Busch delivered a stark warning to European Union regulators. He presented a clear choice: reform the bloc's approach to artificial intelligence regulation or watch one billion euros in industrial AI investment flow to the United States and China. This challenge strikes at the heart of Europe's ambition to be a competitive digital economy.

The company is simultaneously showcasing the tangible benefits of its technology. A partnership with British developer Humanoid and Nvidia has slashed the development time for humanoid robots from 18 months to just seven. On the show floor, these robots are demonstrated sorting containers autonomously. For major clients like PepsiCo, using Siemens’s AI-powered digital twin for supply chains has already boosted throughput at a US plant by 20 percent within three months.

Busch’s criticism is sharply focused on the EU AI Act and the Data Act, which he argues mistakenly treat industrial and machine data with the same stringent oversight as personal consumer data. "It is complete nonsense to treat industrial and machine data the same as personal data," Busch stated bluntly. He contends this creates unnecessary regulatory layers in sectors that already have their own frameworks. Although the European Commission has proposed some simplifications, such as delaying certain obligations for high-risk AI systems, Busch views these steps as insufficient. The full EU AI Act comes into force on August 2.

The strategic pivot is backed by hard numbers. Siemens, Germany's most valuable listed company with a market capitalization of approximately 194 billion euros, now derives more than a third of its group revenue from software. Its billion-euro acquisitions of Altair and Dotmatics have cemented its path toward becoming a digital industrial platform. The company's order backlog has swelled to a record 120 billion euros, providing solid support for its upgraded annual forecast, which now anticipates adjusted earnings per share of up to 11.10 euros.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered political backing for Busch's stance at the same event. He argued that industrial AI requires more regulatory leeway than consumer AI if Europe is to boost its productivity, framing this not as a special Siemens position but as a high-level political consensus.

Investors have responded positively to the strategic direction. Siemens shares gained nearly eight percent last week and now trade significantly above key moving averages, sitting just five percent below their 52-week high. The current share price is around 243 euros, following a pullback of almost two percent on Monday. Over a thirty-day period, the stock is still up roughly 20 percent. Its Relative Strength Index sits at 31, indicating an oversold condition that could signal a near-term stabilization.

Alongside its robotics push, Siemens is tackling the massive energy appetite of data centers, which could consume a tenth of global power generation by 2030. The company unveiled a new switching system for direct-current grids that integrates renewable energy and battery storage far more efficiently. In tandem, it launched Europe's first cloud for industrial AI, built with T-Systems and Nvidia, where digital twins continuously learn from real production data while adhering to strict European data protection rules.

The markets' reaction to Busch's regulatory offensive will be closely watched, especially as his comments question the fundamental investment climate for European AI. This afternoon, board member Cedrik Neike will detail how Siemens's industrial AI solutions are deployed across various sectors. The next major test for the stock's rally comes in May, when Siemens reports its second-quarter results—the first under new CFO Veronika Bienert.