AI robotics a "key opportunity" for Europe, says Nvidia's Huang

Investing.com -- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described AI robotics as a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity for Europe during his Wednesday address at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

Huang highlighted Europe’s "incredibly strong" industrial manufacturing base as a key advantage, suggesting the region could "leap past" the software era that has been dominated by the United States.

"You can now fuse your industrial capability, your manufacturing capability, with artificial intelligence, and that brings you into the world of physical AI, or robotics," Huang said.

European industrial giants including Siemens, Mercedes-Benz Group, Volvo, and Schaeffler have all announced robotics projects and partnerships with robotics technology companies over the past year.

Major U.S. technology companies are also investing heavily in the robotics space. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed in September that 80% of his company’s value would come from its Optimus humanoid robots. Google’s AI division DeepMind released AI models for robotics in 2025, while Nvidia announced partnerships with Alphabet to work on physical AI in March.

However, Huang warned that Europe needs to "get serious" about its energy supply to fully capitalize on AI opportunities. The region currently has some of the highest energy costs globally, which could hinder infrastructure development.

"I think that it’s fairly certain that you have to get serious about increasing your energy supply so that you could invest in the infrastructure layer, so that you could have a rich ecosystem of artificial intelligence here in Europe," he said.

Europe has been struggling with limited energy access as hyperscalers attempt to deploy AI infrastructure across the region. Huang noted that AI has initiated the "largest infrastructure buildout in human history," with hundreds of billions already invested and "trillions of dollars of infrastructure that needs to be built out."

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