German companies are planning to spend more on AI than their global peers. In SAP and Oxford Economics’ 2026 survey, German respondents expect to invest around €35 million on average this year, compared with €24 million across the full survey. 

 

Where The Money’s Going 

• Bosch – More than €2.5 billion in AI by the end of 2027. Bosch also expects software and services revenue to exceed €6 billion by the beginning of the next decade, with much of it already based on AI. 

• Volkswagen – Up to €1 billion by 2030, as part of its existing investment planning, focused on AI-supported vehicle development, industrial applications, and high-performance IT infrastructure. VW expects the wider use of AI across the business to deliver up to €4 billion in efficiency gains and cost avoidance by 2035.  

• Deutsche Telekom – A €1 billion Industrial AI Cloud partnership with Nvidia. Built with Nvidia and data-centre partner Polarise, the cloud officially went into operation in February 2026. 

• Siemens – Siemens is investing €1 billion in industrial AI. CEO Roland Busch says most of that investment will go to the US, with Siemens prioritising the US and China unless EU rules change. Siemens is also making its Simcenter simulation portfolio and digital-twin technology available through Deutsche Telekom’s Industrial AI Cloud.  

• SAP – SAP is tightening hiring and travel as it prioritises investment in AI. It has also made a strategic investment in automation company n8n and signed a multi-year commercial agreement. Trending Topics reports, citing an insider, that SAP’s total commitment exceeded €60 million, including a secondary share deal and a licensing agreement. The companies have not disclosed the precise amount. The deal valued n8n at $5.2 billion. 

 

The Reality Check 

• Only 48% of surveyed German companies have a designated AI leader, according to SAP and Oxford Economics. 

• Nine in ten (90%) of the German companies surveyed say agentic AI has moderate to very high potential to transform their organisation, yet only 4% say they are fully prepared to deploy and scale AI agents. 

• 77% are unconvinced that their AI implementation is delivering to its full potential, according to the same SAP and Oxford Economics study. 

• A third (33%) of German companies already using AI say it has led to significantly higher costs than expected, according to Bitkom. 

• German Mittelstand companies budgeted around 0.4% of revenue for AI in 2025, compared with 0.5% at companies with annual revenue of €5 billion or more, according to Horváth.