The Scoop
Google and Nvidia are partnering with German data-robotics startup Microagi to provide computing power to train and deploy humanoids in factories, the companies announced Wednesday.
The deal, the terms of which weren’t released, will give Microagi access to Nvidia GPUs and Google’s AI models and cloud platforms. Microagi, which is coming off a $55 million seed funding round, collects real-world training footage in more than a dozen countries and consults with companies on deploying robots in their factories.
The global push into robotics is going to require massive amounts of compute, and Google sees the partnership as an “ecosystem play,” Marianne Janik, Google Cloud’s vice president for northern Europe, said in an interview with Semafor. Google isn’t getting data from Microagi or its customers in return for the compute.
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Google DeepMind already has partnerships with several robot hardware makers like Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, and Agile Robots, but the latest deal points to Google’s efforts to also court startups with its cloud business — especially in Europe, which is fast becoming a technological battleground for the US and China.
Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, as well as other American hyperscalers, are expanding their footprint in Europe. Several European robotics firms have also come under Chinese ownership or investment in the past decade.
“Of course there’s going to be competition,” Janik said. “We can see it, we can sense it.”