Article · AI translation
IT Home reported on November 10 that, according to a Reuters report this afternoon (the 10th), the CEOs of European chip giants Infineon, STMicroelectronics and NXP believe that Europe's longstanding strengths in automotive and industrial technology give it the ability to compete with the United States and Asia in robotics and “physical AI.”
At an industry conference in Munich, Germany, executives from the 3 companies said AI applications are expanding from data centers into robots, cars and industrial equipment, creating greater market demand for chips and systems that can operate safely and reliably in real-world environments.
According to IT Home, Infineon, STMicroelectronics and NXP are all major suppliers of power chips, sensors and microcontrollers, while U.S. companies including Texas Instruments and onsemi are their competitors.
Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said: “In my view, industrial AI, or physical AI, is an area Europe must win. We feel we are behind other regions in too many areas already.”
STMicroelectronics CEO Jean-Marc Chery said the development of physical AI depends on close cooperation between chipmakers and customers, such as training robots in AI simulations before putting them into real-world use.
STMicroelectronics has signed an agreement with Italian company Oversonic to deploy humanoid robots in factories, with the first robot installed at a semiconductor factory in Malta. However, most such projects are still in their early stages and are currently being tested mainly in factories; widespread adoption remains some way off.
NXP CEO Rafael Sotomayor believes Europe's experience in traditional technologies will help develop safe and reliable AI systems. As AI shifts from offering recommendations to directly carrying out actions in the real world, system safety will become more important, because a single mistaken judgment could have irreversible consequences. “If a wrong decision causes a broken bone, you can't undo it.”