Industrial AI Activity Jumps More Than 218% as Partnerships, Gen AI, and Physical AI Redefine Manufacturing
Sharp growth in industrial AI dealmaking reflects a market shift from experimentation to deployment, ecosystem
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NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Industrial AI activity accelerated sharply in 2025, rising from 66 tracked developments in 2024 to more than 210, as manufacturers and technology providers increased partnerships, acquisitions, investments, and internal initiatives. According to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, the market’s rapid expansion reflects a move beyond early exploration and into broader commercialization, with generative AI, agentic AI, and physical AI becoming central to industrial transformation.
“Industrial AI is no longer confined to pilots and isolated experimentation,” said Ryan Martin, Senior Research Director at ABI Research. “The volume and composition of activity show that the market is prioritizing deployable outcomes, with partnerships scaling innovation while acquisitions secure the intellectual property and software capabilities needed to operationalize AI across industrial environments.”
ABI Research found that partnerships were the highest-volume transaction type from 2023 through 2025, expanding from 34 in 2024 to roughly 120 in 2025. Generative AI activity climbed from fewer than 10 developments in 2023 and about 30 in 2024 to around 100 in 2025, while physical AI increased from about 30 activities in 2023 to roughly 60 in 2025. The data indicate that AI adoption is being driven by practical business goals, including faster automation deployments, better process optimization, and tighter feedback loops between software intelligence and physical operations.
The report also shows industrial machinery emerging as the leading industry for AI activity in 2025, accounting for 21% of announcements, ahead of electronics at 18%, while discrete manufacturing represented 70% of all AI-related activity. On the technology side, industrial automation led with 119 activities in 2025, compared with 90 for manufacturing software. Vendor activity was anchored by NVIDIA with 56 total activities, followed by Siemens with 42 and Microsoft with 41, while major deals such as Siemens’ $10.6 billion acquisition of Altair Engineering, Emerson’s $7.2 billion acquisition of AspenTech, and SoftBank’s $5.4 billion agreement to acquire ABB’s robotics division underscored the market’s focus on digital threads, robotics, and edge AI.
“As industrial companies push AI closer to production, the market will increasingly reward vendors that can connect models, engineering workflows, and factory systems in a deterministic and scalable way,” Martin said. “What stands out is that competitive advantage is forming around ecosystem control, multimodal intelligence, and the ability to unify digital and physical assets across the industrial stack.”
These findings are from ABI Research’s Industrial AI Investments & Activities Market Data Overview: 3Q 2026 report, part of the company’s Industrial & Manufacturing Technologies research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.
About ABI Research
ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology solution providers and end-market companies. We serve as the bridge that seamlessly connects these two segments by providing exclusive research and expert guidance to drive successful technology implementations and deliver strategies proven to attract and retain customers.
ABI Research是一家全球性的技术情报公司，拥有得天独厚的优势，充当终端市场公司和技术解决方案提供商之间的桥梁，通过提供独家研究和专业性指导，推动成功的技术实施和提供经证明可吸引和留住客户的战略，无缝连接这两大主体。
For more information about ABI Research’s services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific, or visit www.abiresearch.com.
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