Why Siemens's CEO Thinks AI Will Shape Company Operations

Siemens has launched Eigen, an industrial engineering agent that could represent a significant shift in how companies approach operational efficiency and cost reduction.

The German engineering giant positions this technology as a move from AI assistance to full industrial execution, potentially opening new revenue streams in the industrial automation market.

Revealed at Hannover Messe 2026 in Germany, Eigen is among the first commercially available AI systems capable of planning and executing industrial automation engineering tasks.

The product launch is part of Siemens's €1bn (US$1.76 bn) investment in industrial AI, signalling the company's commitment to capturing market share in the rapidly expanding industrial AI sector.

Moving beyond traditional support tools

The Eigen Engineering Agent differs from conventional AI tools and co-pilots that generate advice by operating within real engineering systems to plan, execute and validate tasks.

The system understands its projects, writes automation code, configures systems and iterates until pre-defined performance benchmarks are met.

Vasi Philomin, Executive Vice President of Data and AI at Siemens, says: "The real big shift here is that we are moving away from AI that supports, to AI that actually completes work end-to-end and we're doing this in the context of real world engineering systems."

By automating repetitive tasks and delivering validated, ready-to-use results, Eigen could allow engineers to focus on higher-impact, system-level challenges.

This shift in workflow could mean significant productivity gains for businesses looking to scale operations without proportionally increasing headcount.

Market deployment and customer adoption

Eigen is production-ready and available to the more than 600,000 users of Siemens's Totally Integrated Automation Engineering platform, TIA Portal.

This existing user base provides Siemens with immediate market access and potential for rapid adoption. The agent is part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio and is already digitally available.

Early adopters include Austrian firm ANDRITZ Metals, China's CASMT and US-based Prism Systems. These pilot customers could provide case studies that demonstrate return on investment and operational improvements to potential clients.

Kevin Firouzian, Head of Global Strategy & Partnerships at CASMT, says: "This is an AI assistant truly built for industrial automation. For our electromechanical braking line, the Eigen Engineering Agent transformed a complex, multi-discipline challenge into a conversational workflow. It simplified setup, reduced specialist handoffs, accelerated delivery and made debugging significantly faster."

CASMT is a Chinese-based company that provides AI-driven industrial automation solutions, primarily focused on new energy vehicles.

John Elias, President at Prism Systems, says: "Tools like ChatGPT showed us how powerful AI can be and engineers quickly recognised their potential. The challenge has been bringing that capability into real industrial workflows. Siemens's latest tools help close that gap, allowing us to apply AI in a way that truly supports engineering and automation."

Prism Systems offers advanced and autonomous technology in the industrial, marine, manufacturing and IT markets.

Addressing key operational challenges

In a LinkedIn post, Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens, explains that engineers identified their biggest challenges as repetitive mass operations, documentation searches, bulk engineering and parameter changes across drive systems.

Busch said Eigen is designed for exactly those challenges, offering "up to 50% higher engineering efficiency, two to five times faster execution, up to 80% higher solution quality." He says it is "the first true AI colleague for automation engineers. Plans, writes, validates, delivers, production-ready, inside TIA Portal."

These efficiency gains could translate into substantial cost savings for businesses. According to a McKinsey report, AI in manufacturing and supply chain alone could reduce expenses by up to US$500bn.

Siemens's commercial deployment could signal an acceleration in industrial AI adoption, with companies increasingly looking to bring the technology onto the shop floor.

According to a McKinsey survey from 2025, 93% of over 100 manufacturing Chief Operating Officers (COOs) plan to spend more on digital and AI, with one third intending to spend 5% of the cost of goods over the next five years.

This spending commitment could indicate a significant market opportunity for companies like Siemens offering production-ready industrial AI solutions.