Two of the world’s industrial heavy-weights, ABB Ltd and Siemens AG, have made headline-grabbing announcements in 2025 signalling a shift in how automation, AI and electrification are being deployed at scale.

ABB’s Power-Plant & Green Hydrogen Automation Push

In October 2025, ABB revealed that it has been selected to deliver its ABB Ability™ System 800xA® distributed control system (DCS) to modernise the 900 MW Maxima gas-fired power station in the Netherlands, owned by ENGIE. This upgrade is designed to “future-proof” the plant for rising energy demand and support decarbonisation – including future co-firing with green hydrogen.

On a related front, ABB is also collaborating on a floating production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) unit for green ammonia manufacture (via SwitcH2) off the coast of Portugal. The vessel will house a 300 MW electrolyser and produce up to 243 000 tonnes of green ammonia annually — ABB will supply automation, electrification and control systems for this next-generation marine-fuel project.

These two engagements signal that ABB is moving beyond factory automation into the infrastructure and energy transition arena — showing how industrial automation firms are positioning for the net-zero era.

Siemens’ Industrial AI & Semiconductor Push

Meanwhile, Siemens is stepping up its AI and industrial software credentials. At CES 2025 the company unveiled new innovations including its “Industrial Copilot for Operations” – a system to bring AI models right to the shop-floor, enabling near-real-time decisions for operators and maintenance engineers.

In June 2025, Siemens and NVIDIA Corporation expanded their partnership to bring advanced AI-powered capabilities into manufacturing, linking NVIDIA’s accelerated computing with Siemens’ digital platform, Siemens Xcelerator. The goal: empower manufacturers worldwide to adopt next-gen “factory of the future” systems.

Furthermore, Siemens has introduced new EDA (electronic design automation)-AI solutions for semiconductor and PCB design, marking its push into the chip-design ecosystem.

Why These Moves Matter

Here’s what’s at stake:

• Industrial firms are turning software-first. Automation is no longer just about robotics and motion control — it’s about embedding AI, analytics and realtime data into operations.
• Sustainability and infrastructure matter. ABB’s energy-plant and green-hydrogen projects show that industrial automation is key to the energy transition.
• Scale and ecosystem partnerships win. Siemens partnering with NVIDIA and expanding into semiconductors signals that leading automators are building broad platforms, not one-off machines.
• For machine-engineering and tech firms, this is an opportunity. If your business (like yours) is in machining, automation, innovation — you can ride the wave by aligning with software + services + sustainability rather than just hardware.

What to Watch Going Forward

Keep an eye on these trends:

• Expansion of AI-enabled automation into non-traditional sectors (energy, infrastructure, assets beyond manufacturing).
• Growth of collaborative ecosystems where hardware firms partner with cloud/AI companies and software platforms.
• Demand for automation solutions that support sustainable operations, decarbonisation, flexible production and customisation.
• Pressure on legacy automation models: hardware-only offerings may be squeezed if they don’t accompany digital/enabling capabilities.

Sources: ABB press release (Oct 9 2025); ABB innovation news; Siemens media release CES 2025; Siemens press release June 11 2025 NVIDIA partnership; Siemens EDA AI article.

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