Siemens announced on Thursday that it would acquire ebm-papst's industrial drive technology division as the German multinational will expand production facility automation.
Siemens purchased the 650-person ebm-papst unit that concentrates on air and heating technology. Ebm-papst, a Germany-based, company makes electric motors and sophisticated fans.
According to ebm-papst CEO Klaus Geissdoerfer, the purchase complements Siemens' product offering and fills a need. Geissdoerfer said that ebm-papst needs a worldwide sales framework, which Siemens' capabilities complement, per Reuters.
The two corporations' agreement does not reveal the purchasing price. The deal should be completed by mid-2025.
Siemens Still Struggling in China
Geissdoerfer says industrial drive technology is profitable but accounts for less than 10% of ebm-papst's 2.54 billion euros ($2.77 billion) revenues. Siemens' executive board member in charge of digital industries, Cedrik Neike, stressed that the purchase would allow Siemens to investigate new business prospects in the expanding market for mobile robot solutions and intelligent, battery-powered drive solutions in intralogistics.
(Photo : Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Attendees visit the Siemens booth during CES 2024 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 10, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Meanwhile, Siemens AG shares fell Tuesday as its CFO indicated its continued struggle in China. At a Bank of America conference in London, CFO Ralf Thomas maintained a profit forecast for the year but predicted a low-double-digit drop in digital-industry orders. Orders in that division fell 31% in Siemens' fiscal first quarter.
Shares of Siemens fell 5%. Thomas remarked that though the March figure was "a bit better than February, but it "will be too late to completely safeguard the quarter." He claimed fresh Chinese stimulus would benefit the firm, but orders are slower than projected, per MarketWatch.
Siemens Partners with Nvidia
The announcement of Siemens' purchasing of ebm-papst industrial drive technology division follows the revelation of the expanded collaboration between Siemens and Nvidia to further the industrial metaverse. NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs enable immersive visualization, which the Siemens Xcelerator platform incorporates to enhance the adoption of AI-driven digital twin technologies.
The tech companies demonstrated at NVIDIA GTC 2024 how generative AI may simplify difficult data visualization and offer photorealism. The collaboration intends to transform product design, production, and support by letting users engage with things in realistic environments.
According to the company's website, Siemens AG President and CEO Roland Busch highlighted the possibilities for generative AI and rapid computing throughout Siemens' Xcelerator range.
"We will revolutionize how products and experiences are designed, manufactured, and serviced. On the path to the industrial metaverse, this next generation of industrial software enables customers to experience products as they would in the real world: in context, in stunning realism, and-in the future-interact with them through natural language input," Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, noted.
The founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Jensen Huang, underlined how generative AI and the Omniverse are revolutionizing industrial businesses. He said, "Siemens is bringing Nvidia platforms to their customers and opening new opportunities for industry leaders to build the next wave of AI-enabled digital twins at every scale."
The Siemens Xcelerator platform will include a new Teamcenter X solution for its cloud-based lifecycle management (PLM) software.
The product, to be released later this year, will use Nvidia Omniverse. It enables engineering teams to create ultra-intuitive, photorealistic, real-time, physics-based digital twins. This technology streamlines product development procedures, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.
