Germany plans AI cooperation deal with Nvidia, Handelsblatt says

BERLIN, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Germany plans a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with US chip maker Nvidia to boost the take-up of artificial intelligence in German industry, business daily Handelsblatt said on Thursday, citing people familiar with the issue.

It said the deal would be announced next week at the Invest in Germany conference in Berlin, where Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang will be a guest.

The aim of the deal would be two-fold, the newspaper said. Firstly, it would create the basis for physical AI tools, used in training robots or self-driving vehicles. Secondly, it would help to create high-performance AI models for industry.

The newspaper said the agreement would involve investments in the hundreds of millions of euros.

It said the agreement would be formed around the SOOFI project - Sovereign Open Source Foundation Models - launched in Germany last year to develop large AI models in collaboration with research institutions, universities, and AI companies.

No comment was immediately available from the German government, which said last month it remained committed to further development of AI capacity to strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Susan Fenton)