You Can't Cut Yourself to Glory"- KUKA CEO Christoph Schell on Germany's Crisis, China & Physical AI (#38)
Ten years ago, Midea acquired KUKA, and Germany feared its robotics champion would lose its identity. Today Christoph Schell, who grew up in Germany but spent the last 28 years in the US at HP and Intel, runs the company from California, and argues the Chinese takeover is the reason KUKA is still around. One year into the CEO role, he explains why Germany's decline started 15 years ago and nobody noticed, why "physical AI" matters more than robotics, and why winning in China is now the key to winning anywhere. He closes with a direct appeal to German Mittelstand companies: stop guarding your…
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